English Read the passage and answer the questions.[6M][Flamingo Prose-PROSE]

Listening to them, I see two distinct worlds-- one of the family, caught in a web of poverty, burdened by the stigma of caste in which they are born; the other a vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.Together they have imposed the baggage on the child that he cannot put down. Before he is aware, he accepts it as naturally as his father. To do anything else would mean to dare. And daring is not part of his growing up. When I sense a flash of it in Mukesh I am cheered. “I want to be a motor mechanic,' he repeats.
He will go to a garage and learn. But the garage is a long way from his home. “I will walk,” he insists. “Do you also dream of flying a plane?" He is suddenly silent. "No," he says, staring at the ground. In his small murmur there is an embarrassment that has not yet turned into regret. He is content to dream of cars that he sees hurtling down the streets of his town. Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
1.Who all have “imposed the baggage on the child that he cannot put down”?
A. Only the family
B. Sahukars, middlemen, policemen, law keepers, bureaucrats, and politicians
C. Only the policemen
D. Only the middlemen
2.What is not a part of growing up of these children?
A. Accepting the baggage of poverty
B. Being burdened by the stigma of caste
C. Daring
D. Dreaming
3.What does the narrator ask Mukesh?
A. Do you dream of driving a car?
B. Do you dream of flying a plane?
C. Do you want to be a bangle maker?
D. Do you want to be a sahukar?
4.What is Mukesh content to dream of?
A. Flying a plane
B. Driving a car
C. Becoming a bangle maker
D. Becoming a sahukar
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'fantasy'.
A. Embarrassment
B. Regret
C. Hurdle
D. Dream
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'artificially'.
A. Naturally
B. Embarrassingly
C. Silently
D. Cheerfully

The cry of not having money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles, not even enough to eat, rings in every home. The young men echo the lament of their elders. Little has moved with time, it seems, in Firozabad. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream.
"Why not organise yourselves into a cooperative?” I ask a group of young men who have fallen into the vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers. “Even if we get organised, we are the ones who will be hauled up by the police, beaten and dragged to jail for doing something illegal,” they say.
1.What is the cry that rings in every home?
A. The cry of joy
B. The cry of having enough money
C. The cry of not having money to do anything
D. The cry of success
Answer: C. The cry of not having money to do anything
2.What has been the result of years of mind-numbing toil performed by the bangle-making families of Firozabad?
A. Increased initiative
B. Enhanced ability to dream
C. Improved living conditions
D. Killed all initiative and the ability to dream
3.Who suggests the young men to organize themselves into a cooperative?
A. Mukesh
B. The old man with a flowing beard
C. The narrator
D. Saheb
4.What is the young men's response to this?
A. They eagerly agree and form a cooperative
B. They express concern about the police and legal issues
C. They immediately take action and organize themselves
D. They laugh at the suggestion
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'resound'.
A. Cry
B. Lament
C. Organise
D. Ring
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to ‘rejoice'.
A. Cry
B. Lament
C. Resound
D. Organise

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.Who is Savita? What is she doing?
A. An elderly woman making bangles
B. A young girl in a drab pink dress, soldering pieces of glass
C. A bride with red bangles
D. A woman enjoying a full meal
2.What does the narrator wonder about?
A. If Savita will become a bride
B. If Savita knows the sanctity of the bangles
C. If the old woman has light in her eyes
D. If the old man has achieved what many have failed in their lifetime
3.What all has the old woman reaped in her lifetime?
A. Joy and happiness
B. Red bangles
C. Full meals
D. Suffering and lack of enjoyment even in one full meal
4.What many have failed to achieve in their lifetime?
A. Making bangles
B. Becoming a bride
C. Having a roof over their head
D. Enjoying a full meal
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'piousness'.
A. Sanctity
B. Auspiciousness
C. Joy
D. Soldering
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'sowed'.
A. Planted
B. Harvested
C. Reaped
D. Nurtured

It is his karam, his destiny, says Mukesh's grandmother, who has watched her own husband go blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. “Can a god-given lineage ever be broken?" she implies. Born in the caste of bangle makers, they have seen nothing but bangles in the house, in the yard, in every other house, every other yard, every street in Firozabad.
Spirals of bangles sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple, every colour born out of the seven colours of the rainbow lie in mounds in unkempt yards, are piled on four-wheeled handcarts, pushed by young men along the narrow lanes of the shanty town. And in dark hutments, next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps, sit boys and girls with their fathers and mothers, welding pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. That is why they often end up losing their eyesight before they become adults.
1.What has been called as his destiny?
A. Mukesh's education
B. Mukesh's job
C. Mukesh's fate
D. Mukesh's choice
2.What is the colour of the bangles?
A. Silver
B. Gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple
C. Black
D. Transparent
3.What work is being done in dark hutments?
A. Cooking
B. Studying
C. Making bangles
D. Watching television
4.Why do they often lose their eyes even before becoming adults?
A. Lack of sleep
B. Exposure to dark environments
C. Bright light outside
D. Long hours of work with colored glass
5.Find the word from the passage which means ‘ancestry'.
A. Lineage
B. Destiny
C. Fate
D. Karam
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'well-ordered'.
A. Tidy
B. Organized
C. Unkempt
D. Neat

He stops at the door of one such house, bangs a wobbly iron door with his foot, and pushes it open. We enter a half-built shack. In one part of it, thatched with dead grass, is a firewood stove over which sits a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. On the ground, in large aluminium platters, are more chopped vegetables. A frail young woman is cooking the evening meal for the whole family. Through eyes filled with smoke she smiles.
She is the wife of Mukesh's elder brother. Not much older in years, she has begun to command respect as the bahu, the daughterin-law of the house, already in charge of three men her husband, Mukesh and their father. When the older man enters, she gently withdraws behind the broken wall and brings her veil closer to her face.
As custom demands, daughters-inlaw must veil their faces before male elders. In this case the elder is an impoverished bangle maker. Despite long years of hard labour, first as a tailor, then a bangle maker, he has failed to renovate a house, send his two sons to school. All he has managed to do is teach them what he knows-the art of making bangles.
1.What is there in one part of the house?
A. A bed
B. A television
C. A firewood stove
D. A washing machine
2.Who is cooking the evening meal for the family?
A. Mukesh
B. Mukesh's elder brother
C. Mukesh's mother
D. Mukesh's sister
3.What does the custom demand?
A. Wearing modern clothes
B. Veiling faces of daughters-in-law before male elders
C. Eating with hands
D. Ignoring customs and traditions
4.What has Mukesh's father failed to do?
A. Renovate a house
B. Send his two sons to school
C. Teach his sons the art of bangle making
D. All of the above
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'weak'.
A. Frail
B. Strong
C. Sturdy
D. Resilient
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to ‘rich'.
A. Affluent
B. Prosperous
C. Wealthy
D. Impoverished

Mukesh's family is among them. None of them know that it is illegal for children like him to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light; that the law, if enforced, could get him and all those 20,000 children out of the hot furnaces where they slog their daylight hours, often losing the brightness of their eyes.
Mukesh's eyes beam as he volunteers to take me home, which he proudly says is being rebuilt. We walk down stinking lanes choked with garbage, past homes that remain hovels with crumbling walls, wobbly doors, no windows, crowded with families of humans and animals coexisting in a primeval state.
1.What is the occupation of Mukesh's family?
A. Making bangles
B. Glassblowing
C. Shoe-making
D. Agriculture
2.What is illegal for children?
A. Attending school
B. Working in glass furnaces
C. Playing in the streets
D. Selling bangles
3.What would happen if the law was enforced strictly?
A. The families would be relocated
B. The glass industry would shut down
C. Children would be removed from the furnaces
D. Adults would lose their jobs
4.What are the living conditions of the area where Mukesh lives?
A. Modern and well-built
B. Crowded with primitive hovels
C. Spacious and luxurious
D. Clean and organized
5.Find the word from the passage which means ‘dark and dirty'.
A. Bright
B. Dingy
C. Airy
D. Gleaming
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to “modern'.
A. Primitive
B. Contemporary
C. Advanced
D. Innovative

“I want to drive a car” Mukesh insists on being his own master. “I will be a motor mechanic,” he announces. “Do you know anything about cars?" I ask. “I will learn to drive a car,” he answers, looking straight into my eyes. His dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his town Firozabad, famous for its bangles.
Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of India's glassblowing industry where families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the women in the land it seems.
1.What does Mukesh look forward to become?
A. Doctor
B. Motor mechanic
C. Engineer
D. Artist
2.Where does Mukesh live? What is it famous for?
A. Firozabad, famous for bangles
B. Dhaka, famous for glass
C. Seemapuri, famous for shoes
D. Udipi, famous for temples
3.What is the occupation of every other family in Firozabad?
A. Glassblowing
B. Making bangles
C. Motor mechanic
D. Farming
4.Where have the families spent their generations?
A. By the river
B. In the fields
C. Around furnaces
D. In schools
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'says emphatically'.
A. Pleads
B. Insists
C. Asks
D. Suggests
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'breaking'.
A. Making
B. Fixing
C. Building
D. Breaking

Saheb too is wearing tennis shoes that look strange over his discoloured shirt and shorts. "Someone gave them to me,” he says in the manner of an explanation. The fact that they are discarded shoes of some rich boy, who perhaps refused to wear them because of a hole in one of them, does not bother him. For one who has walked barefoot, even shoes with a hole is a dream come true. But the game he is watching so intently is out of his reach
This morning, Saheb is on his way to the milk booth. In his hand is a steel canister. “I now work in a tea stall down the road,” he says, pointing in the distance. “I am paid 800 rupees and all my meals.” Does he like the job? I ask. His face, I see, has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the tea shop. Saheb is no longer his own master!

1.Why do the tennis shoes which Saheb is wearing look strange?
A. They are discoloured.
B. They have holes in them.
C. They were given to him.
D. They are too big.
2.Why did the rich boy discard his shoes?
A. They were too small.
B. They were strange-looking.
C. They had holes in them.
D. He refused to wear them.
3.Where does Saheb work now? What does he get there?
A. Milk booth, paid 800 rupees
B. Tea stall, paid 800 rupees and meals
C. Shoe store, paid in shoes
D. Bookshop, paid in books
4.Why has Saheb lost his carefree look?
A. He has to wear strange-looking shoes.
B. The steel canister is heavier than the plastic bag.
C. He now works for someone else.
D. The tea shop owner is unkind.
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'attentively'.
A. Intently
B. Strangely
C. Carelessly
D. Heavily
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'up'.
A. Down
B. Light
C. Carefree
D. Intently

And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child it is even more.“I sometimes find a rupee, even a ten-rupee note,” Saheb says, his eyes lighting up.
When you can find a silver coin in a heap of garbage, you don't stop scrounging, for there is hope of finding more. It seems that for children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents. For the children it is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival.
One winter morning I see Saheb standing by the fenced gate of the neighbourhood club, watching two young men dressed in white, playing tennis. “I like the game," he hums, content to watch it standing behind the fence. "I go inside when no one is around,” he admits. “The. gatekeeper lets me use the swing.”
1.Through the years, what has acquired the proportions of a fine art in Seemapuri?
A. Tennis
B. Garbage-picking
C. Painting
D. Cooking
2.What does Saheb sometimes find in the garbage?
A. Tennis balls
B. Gold
C. White clothes
D. Paintings
3.For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents. What is this difference?
A. It is a means of survival for children.
B. It is wrapped in wonder for children.
C. It is a daily bread for children.
D. It is a leaking roof for children.
4.Which game does Saheb like?
A. Chess
B. Tennis
C. Football
D. Badminton
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'searching'.
A. Scrounging
B. Humming
C. Wrapped
D. Wonder
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'despair'.
A. Content
B. Humming
C. Wrapped
D. Survival

My acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads me to Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically. Those who live here are squatters who came from Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb's family is among them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. In structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water, live 10,000 ragpickers.
They have lived here for more than thirty years without an identity, without permits but with ration cards that get their names on voters' lists and enable them to buy grain. Food is more important for survival than an identity. "If at the end of the day we can feed our families and go to bed without an aching stomach, we would rather live here than in the fields that gave us no grain," say a group of women in tattered saris when I ask them why they left their beautiful land of green fields and rivers.

1.Who live in Seemapuri?
A. Squatters from Bangladesh
B. Wealthy individuals
C. Tourists
D. Government officials
2.What are the living conditions in Seemapuri?
A. Luxurious
B. Comfortable
C. Devoid of sewage, drainage, or running water
D. Well-planned
3.What enables them to buy grain?
A. Identity cards
B. Permits
C. Ration cards
D. Bank accounts
4.What is more important for them and why?
A. Identity, as it provides a sense of belonging
B. Permits, for legal recognition
C. Food, for survival
D. Running water, for hygiene
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'outskirts'.
A. Periphery
B. Metaphorically
C. Squatters
D. Wilderness
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to ‘death”.
A. Survival
B. Identity
C. Devoid
D. Aching

I remember a story a man from Udipi once told me. As a young boy he would go to school past an old temple, where his father was a priest. He would stop briefly at the temple and pray for a pair of shoes. Thirty years later I visited his town and the temple, which was now drowned in an air of desolation. In the backyard, where lived the new priest, there were red and white plastic chairs.
A young boy dressed in a grey uniform, wearing socks and shoes, arrived panting and threw his school bag on a folding bed. Looking at the boy, I remembered the prayer another boy had made to the goddess when he had finally got a pair of shoes, “Let me never lose them.” The goddess had granted his prayer. Young boys like the son of the priest now wore shoes. But many others like the ragpickers in my neighbourhood remain shoeless.
1.When he was a young boy, where would the man pray?
A. At a school
B. At his home
C. At an old temple
D. At a shoe store
2.When he was a young boy, what would the man pray for?
A. A pair of shoes
B. Good grades
C. Toys
D. Candy
3.When did the narrator visit the man's town and the temple?
A. Thirty years later
B. The next day
C. A few months later
D. He never visited
4.Who wore shoes now and who did not?
A. The son of the priest wore shoes, ragpickers remained shoeless
B. The son of the priest remained shoeless, ragpickers wore shoes
C. Both the son of the priest and ragpickers wore shoes
D. Both the son of the priest and ragpickers remained shoeless
5.Find the word from the passage which means “out of breath'.
A. Drowned
B. Desolation
C. Panting
D. Folding
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to ‘refused'.
A. Granted
B. Denied
C. Desolation
D. Panting

“Why aren't you wearing chappals?” I ask one. “My mother did not bring them down from the shelf,” he answers simply. “Even if she did he will throw them off,” adds another who is wearing shoes that do not match. When I comment on it, he shuffles his feet and says nothing. “I want shoes,” says a third boy who has never owned a pair all his life. Travelling across the country I have seen children walking barefoot, in cities, on village roads. It is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot, is one explanation. I wonder if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty.
1.Who is not wearing chappals?
A. The first boy
B. The second boy
C. The third boy
D. All of them
2.What is the another one wearing?
A. Chappals
B. Shoes
C. Sandals
D. Boots
3.Why does the third boy want shoes?
A. Because he likes shoes
B. Because it's a tradition
C. Because he has never owned a pair
D. Because he has plenty of shoes
4.What did the narrator see while travelling across the country?
A. Children walking with matching shoes
B. Children walking barefoot
C. Children with plenty of chappals
D. Children wearing expensive shoes
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'to be of the same size, shape or colour'.
A. Excuse
B. Match
C. Perpetual
D. Explanation
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'limited'.
A. Excuse
B. Match
C. Perpetual
D. Explanation

A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school ready?”
"It takes longer to build a school," I say, embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant. But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world. After months of knowing him, I ask him his name. “Saheb-e-Alam," he announces. He does not know what it means. If he knew its meaning - lord of the universe - he would have a hard time believing it. Unaware of what his name represents, he roams the streets with his friends, an army of barefoot boys who appear like the morning birds and disappear at noon. Over the months, I have come to recognise each of them.
1.Why was the narrator embarrassed?
A. Because Saheb was late
B. Because the school was not ready
C. Because Saheb did not recognize him
D. Because Saheb knew the narrator's promise was not meant
2.What was the name of the boy and what did it mean?
A. Sahil - Morning
B. Alam - Universe
C. Saheb-e-Alam - Lord of the universe
D. Saheb - Friend
3.What was the little boy unaware of?
A. The narrator's promise
B. The meaning of his name
C. The school construction
D. The narrator's embarrassment
4.How is the little boy's name contrary to his lifestyle?
A. His name means 'poor'
B. His name means 'uneducated'
C. His name means 'lord of the universe'
D. His name reflects his lifestyle accurately
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'flourish'.
A. Promise
B. Ready
C. Recognise
D. Flourish
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'before'.
A. After
B. Beforehand
C. Beforetime
D. Ahead

'Sometimes I find a Rupee in the garbage' Why do you do this?" I ask Saheb whom I encounter every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps of my neighbourhood. Saheb left his home long ago. Set amidst the green fields of Dhaka, his home is not even a distant memory. There were many storms that swept away their fields and homes, his mother tells him. That's why they left, looking for gold in the big city where he now lives.
“I have nothing else to do,” he mutters, looking away. “Go to school,” I say glibly, realising immediately how hollow the advice must sound. "There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they build one, I will go."
1.What did Saheb search in the garbage?
A. Gold
B. Rupees
C. Food
D. Clothes
2.Where was Saheb's native home?
A. Dhaka
B. A big city
C. In the garbage dumps
D. Set amidst the green fields
3.What does Saheb's mother tell him?
A. There are storms in Dhaka
B. There is no school in their neighborhood
C. They left their home due to storms
D. Saheb should scrounge for gold
4.Why does Saheb not go to school?
A. There is no school in his neighborhood
B. He doesn't want to
C. He is searching for gold
D. He is too busy
5.Find the word from the passage which means "a lot of."
A. Every
B. Nothing
C. Sometimes
D. Many
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'everything'.
A. Nothing
B. Sometimes
C. Gold
D. Rupees