Q1. Read the following passage carefully: (5 marks)
I am very fond of atlases. As a child I used to find it difficult to lay my hands on
an atlas. So when we started the Foundation at Infosys, I decided to distribute
atlases free of cost to schools so that children could see the country and the world
and the vastness of the planet they lived in.
One day as I was coming back from my work at dusk I saw some cattle coming
back after grazing. I smelled the wonderful aroma of fresh groundnuts in the air.
A man was selling fresh groundnuts in front of the local school. It was quite
irresistible. I decided to buy a kilo of groundnuts from him. The man, obviously
a farmer was selling his product directly to customers passing that way.
He weighed a kilo and gave it to me loose. Take this and put it in your bag,‟ I
was not carrying one so I asked him if he could get one from somewhere. He
thought for a while and then turned to his assistant and said, Run into the
school, the classrooms are still open. There will be a big red book there, with
thick pages. Tear out one page and get it. Before I could stop him the boy had
run into the school. Soon he came back holding a colourful leaf and I was handed
my groundnuts in it. I looked closely at the leaf and realised that it was from one
of the atlases which I had gifted to the school some months back. I was shocked.
Why did you tear the page from this book? I asked.
The man said, some lady gives these books free to the school. The paper is nice
and thick, so we use it sometimes for wrapping things.
I was shocked. Sadly I looked at the leaf which bore the seal of our foundation
too.
Since then I decided to change my policy with regards to extending monetary
help to the needy. I decided to give only part help henceforth.
Complete the following statements by selecting the most appropriate options
from the ones given below:
(a) The narrator distributed atlases in schools because __________ .
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(i) she wanted all children to know the locations of different places in
the world and the planet earth.
(ii) she could not afford to buy an atlas when she was a child.
(iii) she thought books were the best gift one could give to children.
(iv) atlases had colourful and thick leaves.
(b) The author says before she could stop him the boy had already run into
the school. She wanted to stop him because __________ .
(i) she decided to put the groundnuts in her handbag.
(ii) she was in a hurry and she felt the boy would take long to fetch the
paper.
(iii) she realised at once that the boy would tear leaves from a book
which was not a good habit.
(iv) she felt that the boy would be punished if he was caught stealing.
(c) The author changed her mind with respect to extending full help to the
poor and the needy. What made her change her mind was that
__________
(i) she felt that the poor would become lazy if they got into the habit
of getting everything free.
(ii) she was a strict disciplinarian and did not like to spoil their habits.
(iii) she felt that any gift given totally free of cost lost its value even
amongst the most needy.
(iv) instead of giving help she thought it was better to give the poor
people suitable jobs instead.
(d) The word irresistible‟ in the passage means:
(i) cheap (ii) beautiful
(iii) precious (iv) tempting
(e) The lady and the groundnut seller reacted differently to the tearing of the
leaves from the atlas. The statement which best describes their reactions
is :
(i) Both were happy that their respective problems were solved
(ii) The lady appreciated the resourcefulness of the boy and the
groundnut seller.
(iii) The lady was shocked and clearly unhappy at the misuse of
atlases: the groundnut seller did not see any harm in tearing leaves
from books which had been given free of cost.
(iv) The groundnut seller tore the leaves reluctantly but the lady
assured him that there was no harm in doing it as those books
were donated free of