Unit - 5 : The Summit Within English - Unit - 5 : The Summit Within

I Looking round from the summit you tell yourself that it was worthwhile. Other silvery peaks appear through the clouds. If you are lucky the sun may be on them. The surrounding peaks look like a jewelled necklace around the neck of your summit.
Below, you see vast valleys sloping into the distance. It is an ennobling, enriching experience to just look down from the summit of a mountain. You bow down and make your obeisance to whichever God you worship. I left on Everest a picture of Guru Nanak, Rawat left a picture of Goddess Durga.
Phu Dorji left a relic of the Buddha. Edmund Hillary had buried a cross under a cairn (a heap of rocks and stones) in the snow. These are not symbols of conquest but of reverence.
1. How does the surrounding peak look?
2. Why does the climber bow down?
3. What did the author leave on Everest?
4. Who buried a cross there?
5. Find the one word from the passage which means, "respect or love for God".
6. Find the opposites of the following from the passage :
(i) disappear
(ii) unlucky.

Mountains are nature at its best. Their beauty and majesty pose a great challenge, and like many, I believe that mountains are a means of communion with God Once having granted this, the question remains: Why Everest? Because it is the highest, the mightiest and has defied many previous attempts. It takes the last ounce of one's energy. It is a brutal struggle with rock and ice.
Once taken up, it cannot be given up halfway even when one's life is at stake. The passage back is as difficult as the passage onwards. And then, when the summit is climbed, there is the exhilaration, the joy of having done something, the sense of a battle fought and won. There is a feeling of victory and of happiness.
1. How do mountains pose a great challenge?
2. In what does the author believe?
3. Who has defied many previous attempts?
4. When does the climber have the joy of having done something?
5. Find the one word from the passage which means, "leave".
6. Find the opposites of the following from the passage :
(i) defeat
(ii) easy.

Of all the emotions which surged through me as I stood on the summit of Everest, looking over miles of panorama below us, the dominant one I think was humility. The physical in me seemed to say, 'Thank God, it's all over!" However, instead of being jubilant, there was a tinge of sadness.
Was it because I had already done the 'ultimate' in climbing and there would be nothing higher to climb and all roads hereafter would lead down? By climbing the summit of Everest you are overwhelmed by a deep sense of joy and thankfulness. It is a joy which lasts a lifetime. The experience changes you completely. The man who has been to the mountains is never the same again.
1. Where was the author standing when he felt humility?
2. By what was the author overwhelmed?
3. How long does the joy of climbing the summit last?
4. What is the effect of the experience of climbing on the author?
5. Find the one word from the passage which means, "the highest point of a mountain".
6. Find the opposites of the following from the passage :
(i) happiness
(ii) always.

What were the "symbols of reverence" left by members of the team on Everest?

One does not do it (climb a high peak) for fame alone. What does one do it for, really?

What was it about Mount Everest that the author found irresistible?

Why is adventure, which is risky, also pleasurable?

What are the three qualities that played a major role in the author's climb?