ORAL COMPREHENSION
CHECK PAGE
5
1. What did Lencho hope for?
Answer:
Lencho’s field of ripe corn needed a downpour or at least a shower, so he hoped
for a rain shower for his field.
2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were
like ‘new coins’?
Answer:
Lencho’s field of ripe crops was ready for harvest. After the rain shower, his
crops would yield decent profits. Therefore, he said or compared ‘raindrops’
with ‘new coins’. Also, he mentioned
that the big drops are equivalent to ten pesos and the little drops are
equivalent to five pesos.’
3. How did the rain change? What happened
to Lencho’s fields?
Answer:
The rain was just pouring in the beginning. But, soon after the rainfall a
strong wind began to blow and led to a hailstorm. In a result, Lencho’s field
of ripe corn was completely destroyed. The field had no leaves and flowers left
on the tree.
4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the
hail stopped?
Answer:
Lencho was completely saddened. He could imagine the future of his family due
to a lack of food or corn that year. There was no one to help him because he
lived in a solitary house in the valley.
ORAL COMPREHENSION
CHECK PAGE
6-7
1. Who or what did Lencho have faith in?
What did he do?
Answer:
Lencho had extreme faith in God. He believed that God’s eyes see everything,
even what is deep in one’s conscience. So, he wrote a letter to God. He wrote
his grievances in the letter and asked for 100
from God, so he can sow his field again and survive until the crops
come.
2. Who read the letter?
Answer:
The postmaster read the letter.
3. What did the postmaster do then?
Answer:
At first, the postmaster could not stop laughing, but immediately he became serious
by Lencho’s extreme faith in God. He wanted Lencho’s faith in God to be intact.
So, he decided to collect money for him from his friends and colleagues, and
send it to Lencho.
4. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter
for him with money in it?
Answer:
No, Lencho was not at all surprised when he opened his letter and found money
in it. Due to his extreme faith in God, he was confident and expecting such a
reply from God.
5. What made him angry?
Answer:
He became angry when he counted the money and found only 70 pesos instead of
100 pesos. He believed that such a mistake couldn’t be done by God and God
couldn’t deny him too for what he had requested.
THINKING
ABOUT THE TEXT PAGE
7
1. Who does Lencho have complete faith
in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Answer:
Lencho has complete faith in God. There are many sentences in the story that
shows us his faith in God such as-
(a) No
one dies of hunger. Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose
eyes, as he had been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s
conscience.
(b)
“God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this
year. I need a hundred pesos to sow my field again and to live until the crop
comes,
(c) Lencho
showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money. God could not have made
a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.
(d) “God:
Of the money that I asked for, only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest,
since I need it very much.”
2. Why does the postmaster send money to
Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?
Answer:
The postmaster wanted Lencho’s faith in God to be intact. So, he came up with
an idea to answer the letter. He collected money from his friends and colleagues
for an act of charity and sent it to the farmer. Also, the postmaster signed
the letter in the name of God so that it looked an actual reply from God.
3. Did Lencho try to find out who had
sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
Answer:
No, Lencho did not even think of anyone else other than God had sent the money
to him, due to his extreme faith in the existence of God. His extreme faith in
God did not even allow him to think and find who else other than God would send
him the money.
4. Who does Lencho think has taken the
rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? (Remember that the irony
of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or
amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected.)
Answer:
Lencho thinks that the post office people have taken the rest of the money
because God can neither make such mistakes nor deny what he has requested. So,
he wrote another letter and requested God not to send the rest of the money by
mail. However, the irony in this situation is that post office people are the
one who has arranged money for Lencho. Instead of receiving ‘thanks’, they are
called ‘crooks’ by Lencho for stealing the missing amount.
5. Are there people like Lencho in the
real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select
appropriate words from the box to answer the question.
greedy, naive, stupid, ungrateful,
selfish, comical,
unquestioning
Answer:
I don’t think there are people like Lencho in the real world. Choosing from the
given words, I would say that he is naïve and unquestioning. He has no idea
about the real existence of God. How can he send a letter without an address?
In some manner, he is ungrateful too, because he was not happy with 70 pesos
and blamed post office people for 30 pesos.
6. There are two kinds of conflict in the
story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these
conflicts illustrated?
Answer:
In the first conflict of the story which is between humans and nature, the
farmer hopes for a rain shower. As the rain starts and he starts thinking of
his profit that he would gain from the crops. But, suddenly the rain turned
into a hailstorm and destroyed the crops in his field.
In the second conflict of the story which is between
among humans, Lencho doubts the honesty of the post office people and calls
them crooks. However, they are the ones who helped him in the name of God. This
shows that humans don’t trust each other, but are ready to trust in the idea of
God’s existence.
THINKING
ABOUT LANGUAGE PAGE
8
I. Look at the following sentence from
the story.
Suddenly a
strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began
to fall.
‘Hailstones’
are small balls of ice that fall like rain. A storm in which hailstones fall is
a ‘hailstorm’. You know that a storm is a bad weather with strong winds, rain,
thunder and lightning.
There are different names in different
parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the
names in the box with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks? You may
use a dictionary to help you.
gale, whirlwind,
cyclone,
hurricane, tornado, typhoon
1. A violent tropical storm in which
strong winds move in a circle: __ __ c __ __ __ __
Answer:
Cyclone
2. An extremely strong wind: __ a __ __
Answer:
Gale
3. A violent tropical storm with very
strong winds: __ __ p __ __ __ __
Answer:
Typhoon
4. A violent storm whose centre is a
cloud in the shape of a funnel: __ __ __ n __ __ __
Answer:
Tornado
5. A violent storm with very strong
winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean: __ __ r __ __ __ __ __ __
Answer:
Hurricane
6. A very strong wind that moves very
fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage: __ __ __ __ l __ __ __
__
Answer:
Whirlwind
II. Notice how the word ‘hope’ is used in these sentences from
the story:
(a) I hope it
(the hailstorm) passes quickly.
(b) There was a
single hope: help from God.
In the first
example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means you wish for something to happen.
In the second example, it is a noun meaning a chance for something to happen.
Match the sentences in Column A with the
meanings of ‘hope’ in Column B.
|
A |
B |
|
1. Will you get the subjects you want
to study in college? I hope so. |
– a feeling that something good will
probably happen |
|
2. I hope you don’t mind my saying
this, but I don’t like the way you are arguing. |
– thinking that this would happen (It
may or may not have happened.) |
|
3. This discovery will give new hope to
HIV/AIDS sufferers. |
– stopped believing that this good
thing would happen |
|
4. We were hoping against hope that the
judges would not notice our mistakes. |
– wanting something to happen (and
thinking it quite possible) |
|
5. I called early in the hope of
speaking to her before she went to school. |
– showing concern that what you say
should not offend or disturb the other person: a way of being polite |
|
6. Just when everybody had given up
hope, the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone. |
– wishing for something to happen,
although this is very unlikely |
Answer:
|
A |
B |
|
1. Will you get the subjects you want to study
in college? I hope so. |
- wanting something to happen (and thinking it
quite possible) |
|
2. I hope you don't mind my saying this, but I
don't like the way you are arguing. |
- showing concern that what you say should not
offend or disturb the other person: a way of being polite |
|
3. This discovery will give new hope to
HIV/AIDS sufferers. |
- a feeling that something good will probably
happen |
|
4. We were hoping against hope that the judges
would not notice our mistakes. |
- wishing for something to happen, although
this is very unlikely |
|
5. I called early in the hope of speaking to
her before she went to school. |
- thinking that this would happen (It may or
may not have happened.) |
|
6. Just when everybody had given up hope, the
fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone. |
- stopped believing that this good thing would
happen |
III. Relative Clauses
Join the sentences given below using who,
whom, whose, which, as suggested.
1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the
commercial capital of India. (which)
Answer:
I often go to Mumbai, which is the commercial capital of India.
2. My mother is going to host a TV show
on cooking. She cooks very well. (who)
Answer:
My mother, who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.
3. These sportspersons are going to meet
the President. Their performance has been excellent. (whose)
Answer:
These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet
the President.
4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see
into our minds. (whose)
Answer:
Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.
5. This man cheated me. I trusted him.
(whom)
Answer:
This man, whom I trusted, cheated me.
IV. Using Negatives for Emphasis
Find sentences in the story with negative
words, which express the following ideas emphatically.
1. The trees lost all their leaves.
Answer:
Not a leaf remained on the trees.
2. The letter was addressed to God
himself.
Answer:
It was nothing less than a letter to God.
3. The postman saw this address for the
first time in his career.
Answer:
Never in his career as a postman had he known that address.
V. Metaphors
In pairs, find metaphors from the story to complete the table below. Try to say what qualities are being compared. One has been done for you.
|
Object |
Metaphor |
Quality or Feature Compared |
|
Cloud |
Huge mountains of
clouds |
The mass or
'hugeness' of mountains |
|
Raindrops |
New coins |
|
|
Hailstones |
New silver coins
/frozen pearls |
|
|
Locusts |
A plague of locusts |
An epidemic (a
disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead |
|
|
An ox of a man |
|
Answer:
|
Object |
Metaphor |
Quality or Feature Compared |
|
Cloud |
Huge mountains of clouds |
The mass or 'hugeness' of mountains |
|
Raindrops |
A curtain of rain |
The draping or covering of an area by a
curtain |
|
Hailstones |
The frozen pearls |
The resemblance in colour and hardness of a
pearl |
|
Locusts |
A plague of locusts |
An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very
rapidly and leaves many people dead |
|
Man (Lencho) |
An ox of a man |
The working of an ox in the fields (hard work) |
Poem:
Dust of Snow
by Robert Frost
THINKING
ABOUT THE POEM PAGE
14
1. What is a “dust of snow”? What does
the poet say has changed his mood? How has the poet’s mood changed?
Answer:
A ‘dust of snow’ means a tiny light particle of snow. The dust of snow has
changed the poet’s mood. He was passing by a hemlock tree and a crow sitting on
the tree shook off the dust of snow on the poet that changed the mood and made
his rest of the day better.
2. How does Frost present nature in this
poem? The following questions may help you to think of an answer.
(i) What are the birds that are usually
named in poems? Do you think a crow is often mentioned in poems? What images
come to your mind when you think of a crow?
Answer:
The way Frost has put nature in this poem is quite unusual.
Other poems based on nature use names of the birds
such as nightingales, sparrows, peacock, etc. However, Frost has mentioned the
bird ‘crow’ which is not quite often used in poems. When we think of a crow we
imagine something dark, black, and a bit scary.
(ii) Again, what is “a hemlock tree”? Why
doesn’t the poet write about a more ‘beautiful’ tree such as a maple, or an
oak, or a pine?
Answer:
A ‘hemlock tree’ is a toxic or poisonous tree. In this poem, the poet
represents his sad mood, but a maple, or an oak, or a pine, all such trees
represent happiness. Hence, the poet doesn’t write about beautiful trees such
as a maple, or an oak, or a pine.
(iii) What do the ‘crow’ and ‘hemlock’
represent — joy or sorrow? What does the dust of snow that the crow shakes off
a hemlock tree stand for?
Answer: In this poem, the hemlock tree and crow represent sorrow. Here, the dust of snow stands for joy or happiness that the poet experiences. The poet used the tree and bird to compare them with joy. He has tried to make us understand that we should see the world as it is, not how we want to see it is.
Poem: Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
THINKING
ABOUT THE POEM PAGE
15
1. There are many ideas about how the
world will ‘end’. Do you think the world will end some day? Have you ever
thought what would happen if the sun got so hot that it ‘burst’, or grew colder
and colder?
Answer:
Unfortunately yes, the world will end someday. I am not sure how and when it’ll
happen. It could be due to the sun getting hotter and burst someday. We do see
a sign of it as global warming. In other cases too, the world will end if the
sun grew colder and colder. The existence of life is only possible on the earth
when the temperature is apt for living.
2. For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’
stand for? Here are some ideas:
Greed avarice cruelty lust
conflict fury intolerance rigidity
insensitivity coldness indifference hatred
Answer: For Frost, ‘fire’ stands for avarice,
conflict, cruelty, fury, greed, and lust
‘Ice’ stands for coldness, hatred, indifference, intolerance, insensitivity, and rigidity.
3. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out the contrasting ideas in the poem?
Answer: The rhyme scheme of the poem is – aba abc bcb. The rhyming has been beautifully used by the poet to bring contrast in the poem. He has used two different ideas of two different groups who believe that the world will end someday by either fire or ice. Also, he depicts two essential components- desire and hatred, as a feature of destructive human emotions. He referred ice as an indifference towards one another which will also be sufficient to end the world.
|
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