The Proposal English (Language & Literature) - The Proposal

Last year we lent you our threshing-machine, although on that account we had to put off our own threshing till November, but you behave to us as if we were gypsies. Giving me my own land, indeed! No, really, that’s not at all neighbourly! In my opinion, it’s even impudent, if you want to know.

(a) The speaker here is …………………………………….. .

(i) Lomov

(ii) Chubukov

(iii) Natalya

(iv) neighbour

(b) The action taken by the speaker last year was to …………………………………. .

(i) take his dog for a walk daily

(ii) scold the gipsies staying on his land

(iii) behave like the gipsies in front of Lomov

(iv) lent his threshing machine to Lomov

(c) Natalaya proved that they were good neighbours by …………………………………….. .

(i) delaying their own threshing till November

(ii) lending their threshing machine to Lomov

(iii) behaving like decent neighbours

(iv) all of the above

(d) What does the speaker mean by saying ‘that’s not at all neighbourly’?

(i) That you are not being friendly and helpful.

(ii) That you are staying in the neighborhood.

(iii) That you are being friendly.

(iv) That you are being friendly and helpful.

(e) The word ‘impudent’ in the passage means ………………………………….. .

(i) obsolete and disrespectful

(ii) impolite and disrespectful

(iii) shameless

(iv) arrogant

LOMOV : He is old, but I wouldn’t take five Squeezers for him. Why, how can you? Guess is a dog; as for Squeezer, well, it’s too funny to argue. Anybody you like has a dog as good as Squeezer... you may find them under every bush almost. Twenty-five roubles would be a handsome price to pay for him.

NATALYA : There’s some demon of contradition in you today, Ivan Vassilevitch. First you pretend that the Meadows are yours; now, that Guess is better than Squeezer. I don’t like people who don’t say what they mean, because you know perfectly well that Squeezer is a hundred times better than your silly Guess. Why do you want to say he isn’t?

LOMOV : I see, Natalya Stepanovna, that you consider me either blind or a fool. You must realise that Squeezer is overshot!

(a) According to Lomov the funny thing is that ………………………………………. .

(i) Squeezer is better than Guess

(ii) Guess is better than Squeezer

(iii) Squeezer and Guess both are dogs

(iv) Squeezer and Guess hide under bushes

(b) Natalya feels that her dog is …………………………………………. .

(i) hundred times handsome than Lomov’s dog

(ii) hundred times better than Lomov’s dog

(iii) hundred times silly than Lomov’s dog

(iv) hundred times smarter than Lomov’s dog

(c) Lomov degrades Squeezer by commenting that dogs like him ……………………………………… .

(i) are overshot

(ii) are of a poor breed

(iii) can be found under every bush

(iv) are silly and fat

(d) Lomov interprets Natalya’s accusation and thinks that she considers him ………………………. .

(i) blind and foolish

(ii) wealthy and selfish

(iii) foolish and wealthy

(iv) blind and wealthy

(e) Find a word from the passage which means disagreement ………………………………………. .

(i) overshot

(ii) roubles

(iii) argue

LOMOV : I’ll show you the documents, Natalya Stepanovna!

NATALYA : No, you’re simply joking, or making fun of me. What a surprise! We’ve had the land for nearly three hundred years, and then we’re suddenly told that it isn’t ours! Ivan Vassilevitch, I can hardly believe my own ears. These Meadows aren’t worth much to me. They only come to five dessiatins, and are worth perhaps 300 roubles, but I can’t stand unfairness. Say what you will, I can’t stand unfairness.

LOMOV : Hear me out, I implore you! The peasants of your father’s grandfather, as I have already had the honour of explaining to you, used to bake bricks for my aunt’s grandmother. Now my aunt’s grandmother, wishing to make them a pleasant...

NATALYA : I can’t make head or tail of all this about aunts and grandfathers and grandmothers. The Meadows are ours, that’s all.

(a) The documents referred by Lomov are …………………………….. .

(i) the ownership of Burnt Marsh

(ii) the ownership of Peasants

(iii) the ownership of five dessiatins

(iv) the ownership of Oxen Meadows

(b) According to Natalya her family owned the land in question for …………………………….. .

(i) three hundred years

(ii) ages

(iii) as long as she remembered

(iv) three hundred fifty years

(c) Natalya says Lomov is unfair as …………………………….. .

(i) the peasants have worked hard and Lomov is not giving credit

(ii) the brick work done by her forefathers is not being appreciated by Lomov

(iii) the Meadows belong to Natalya while Lomov lays his claim to them

(iv) he is rude and pompous

(d) The meaning of ‘I can’t make head nor tail of all this’ is …………………………….. .

(i) I cannot understand anything of this

(ii) I cannot touch my head

(iii) I cannot touch my feet

(iv) I am irritated and annoyed

(e) The word from the Passage which means ‘request’ is …………………………….. .

(i) honour

(ii) worth

(iii) pleasant

(iv) implore

LOMOV : But you can see from the documents, honoured Natalya Stepanovna. Oxen Meadows, it’s true, were once the subject of dispute, but now everybody knows that they are mine. There’s nothing to argue about. You see my aunt’s grandmother gave the free use of these Meadows in perpetuity to the peasants of your father’s grandfather, in return for which they were to make bricks for her. The peasants belonging to your father’s grandfather had the free use of the Meadows for forty years, and had got into the habit of regarding them as their own, when it happened that...

NATALYA : No, it isn’t at all like that! Both grandfather and greatgrandfather reckoned that their land extended to Burnt Marsh — which means that Oxen Meadows were ours. I don’t see what there is to argue about. It’s simply silly!

(a) Documents offered to be by Lomov are relating to …………………………………….. .

(i) Oxen Maidens

(ii) Ox Meadows

(iii) Oxen Meedow

(iv) Oxen Meadows

(b) The reason Lomov’s aunt’s grandfather gave Oxen Meadows to Natalya’s father’s grandfather was ………………………………………… .

(i) in lieu of their making bricks for Lomov’s aunt’s grandmother

(ii) in lieu of making a house for Lomov’s aunt’s grandmother

(iii) in lieu of making a meadow for Lomov’s aunt’s grandmother

(iv) in lieu of honouring Lomov’s aunt’s grandmother

(c) The peasants had free use of meadows for ………………………………………… .

(i) forty two years

(ii) forty years

(iii) forty four years

(iv) none of the above

(d) According to Natalya Oxen Meadows belonged to them as …………………………………. .

(i) her grandfather and great grandmother had lived all their lives on Oxen Meadows

(ii) her grandfather and great grandmother thought Oxen Meadows extended to Burnt Marsh

(iii) her grandfather and great grandmother thought that their peasants lived their

(iv) her grandfather and great grandmother thought all the surrounding land was theirs

(e) Find a word from the Passage which means ‘calculated’.

(i) deliberate

(ii) reckoned

(iii) perpetuity

(iv) dispute