READING COMPREHENSION
Comprehension Passage 1
White Sharks: The Great Hunters
Read the passage given below.
The Great White Shark is the largest predatory shark, and is probably the most
dreaded. It gets its name from the colour of its skin, which is grey or bluish above and
white below. The largest Great Whites reach lengths of over 6.5 metres and weigh up
to 2300 kilograms. However, most are between 4 and 5 metres in length and weigh
650–1100 kilos.
The Great White Shark has massive teeth, which are positioned in rows and serrated.
When the Great White attacks, it bites its prey and shakes its head back and forth.
The serrated teeth act as a saw and literally tear the victim apart. The Great White
Shark often swallows many of its own teeth in an attack.
The Great White Shark normally feeds on fish, seals, dolphins, porpoises, otters, and
turtles. It is thought to locate its prey by electro sense and by smell. Like all sharks,
Great Whites have special pores which enable them to detect the electromagnetic
fields radiated by moving organisms. Great Whites can detect voltage as small as one
half billionth of a volt.
Great Whites employ several hunting techniques depending on the prey. Most of the
time, the shark will remain still underwater before ambushing its prey from underneath.
When hunting small-sized seals, the impact of the shark is so powerful that it knocks
both the shark and the seal out of the water. With larger prey, such as elephant
seals, the shark will simply take a huge bite out of it and wait for it to bleed to death.
While hunting dolphins, the shark attacks from above, presumably to avoid detection
from the dolphin’s echolocation. Great White Sharks are most commonly observed
throughout the world’s subarctic coastal waters, though they spend most of their time
READING COMPREHENSION
in the open ocean. The highest concentrations are found in the waters off the coast of
South Africa, Australia, California and Mexico. The Great White Shark is also found in
the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas.
Despite the fear of Great White Sharks, they do not usually target humans as prey.
Most attacks can be attributed to mistaken identity, as sharks often mistake humans
for seals. Many human injuries caused by Great White Sharks are cases of test-biting.
If a shark is unsure about a floating object, it often gives it a test bite to determine
what kind of object it is. While such bites do little damage to buoys and other objects,
they obviously inflict serious damage on the human body.
A. Choose the most appropriate option to complete the following sentences.
1. The Great White Shark gets its name from its
c) grey or bluish and white skin.
a) over 6.5 metres. b) between 4 and 5 metres.
c) less than 4 metres.
3. Great White Sharks are found mainly in
b) grey and white skin. 2. Great White Sharks usually grow to a length of
a) white skin. a) open oceans. b) sub-arctic coastal waters. c) the Mediterranean Sea.
4. A Great White Shark ‘test-bites’ objects in the sea to determine
a) what the object is. b) whether it tastes good. c) if it is edible.
READING COMPREHENSION
B.
Give short answers to the following questions.
1. Why is the Great White Shark the most feared of all sharks?
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2. What is the Great White Shark’s usual prey? How does it locate them?
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3. What special ability do these sharks possess to help them hunt in the
oceans?
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READING COMPREHENSION
4Though humans are not the natural prey of the Great Whites, why do these
sharks attack humans?
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C.
Describe the Great White Sharks’ hunting techniques in not more than 70
words.
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D.
Locate words in the passage which mean the opposite of those given
below.
1. loved 3. smooth ______________ 4. predator ______________
5. confront ______________ 6. sinking ______________ 2. tiny ______________
______________
READING COMPREHENSION
Comprehension Passage 2
Why the Sky is Far Away
Read the passage given below.
Vicky looked at the food in his lunch-box and made a face. ‘Stuffed parathas and
pickle again,’ he said to his friend Robin. ‘I never get anything good for lunch.’
Robin gave his own lunch a critical look and frowned. ‘You think that’s bad,’ he said,
‘I’ve got sandwiches again. It’s the third time this week!’
They pushed the food aside. ‘Let’s get burgers and colas at the café after school,’
Robin said. They pulled out their English books and started reading. The next period
was English, and Mrs. Nair was giving them a test today. When the bell rang, the boys
dropped their uneaten lunches into the dustbin. Mrs. Nair was entering the classroom
and she saw them. ‘Not hungry, boys?’ she asked. They shook their heads and hurried
back to their seats.
When the test was over, there was some time left in the period. Mrs. Nair stood at the
front of the class and said, ‘Before you leave today, I’d like to share an African folktale
with you. It’s called ‘Why the Sky is Far Away’. I think you’ll find it interesting:
Long ago the sky was close to the Earth. So close, that you could reach up and
touch it. And you could eat it! Men and women did not have to plant their own food.
Instead, when they were hungry, they just reached up and broke off a piece of the sky
READING COMPREHENSION
to eat. Sometimes the sky tasted like ripe bananas. Other times it tasted like roasted
potatoes. The sky was always delicious.
But people did not use the gift of the sky wisely. Some people took more than they
could eat, and threw the extra pieces into the garbage. When the sky saw this, it
became angry.
One morning, the angry sky turned dark. Black clouds hung over the land, and the
great voice of the sky said to all the people, ‘You are wasting my gift of food. Do not
take more than you can eat. If I see pieces of myself in the garbage, I will take my gift
away from you.’
The people trembled with fear. The great King Oba said, ‘Let us be careful about how
much food we take.’ For a long time, all the people were careful. But a man named
Osato wasn’t careful. One festival day, he took so many delicious pieces of the sky
that he couldn’t eat them all. But he knew he must not throw them away.
He tried to give the pieces to his wife. ‘Here, wife,’ Osato said. ‘You eat the rest.’
‘I can’t,’ Osato’s wife said. ‘I’m too full.’
Osato asked his children to help him eat the delicious pieces of the sky, but the
children couldn’t eat more than a few bites. Finally, Osato decided to hide the pieces
at the bottom of a pile of garbage. All at once the sky became angry and the clouds
turned black. ‘You have wasted my gift of food again,’ shouted the sky. ‘This time I will
go away so you cannot waste me anymore.’
The people cried, ‘What will we eat? We will starve!’
READING COMPREHENSION
The sky said, ‘You will have to learn to plant crops in the ground and gather fruits in
the forests. If you work hard, you may learn not to waste the gifts the Earth gives you.’
Everyone watched as the sky sailed away. From that time on, people have worked
hard to grow their food and cook their meals. And they always tried to remember not
to waste the gifts of nature. The bell rang for the next period. ‘What did you think of
the story?’ Mrs. Nair said, smiling.
She looked at Vicky and Robin.
The two boys slouched in their chairs and looked embarrassed. ‘We get the message,’
they said. ‘No more lunches in the garbage!’
A. Complete the following sentences appropriately.
1. Vicky and Robin were upset because _________________________________
2. Instead of having their lunch, they ____________________________________
3. Their action was observed by ________________________________________
4. After the students had finished their English test, Mrs. Nair _______________
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5. Mrs. Nair’s reason for telling the story was to ___________________________
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READING COMPREHENSION
B. Write short answers to the following questions.
1. According to the folktale, why did people not have to grow food?
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2. Why did the sky become angry with the people of the Earth?
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3. What did it threaten to do?
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4. Describe what occurred on the festival day.
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5. Before leaving, what advice did the sky give the people?
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READING COMPREHENSION
C. Write a paragraph of 60 to 70 words explaining the message of the
folktale.
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D.
Find phrases in the passage which have the same meaning as the
following:
1. made an unpleasant expression to express dislike ____________________
2. put something out of the way ____________________
3. stretch one’s hand upwards to touch something ____________________
4. manage to eat a small quantity ____________________
5. natural resources ____________________
READING COMPREHENSION
Comprehension Passage 3
Sojourner Truth
Read the passage given below.
The woman known as Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York as Isabella
Baumfree (after her father’s owner, Baumfree). She was sold several times, and while
owned by the John Dumont family, was married to Thomas, another of Dumont’s
slaves. She had five children with Thomas. In 1827, the New York Anti-Slavery Law
emancipated the slaves in the state. When the Dumonts refused to give Isabella her
freedom, she left her husband and ran away with her youngest child. She went to
work for the family of Isaac Van Wagenen.
While working for the Van Wagenen’s—whose name she used briefly—she discovered
that a member of the Dumont family had sold one of her children to slavery in Alabama.
Since this son had been emancipated under New York law, Isabella sued in court and
won his return.
In 1843, after a religious conversion, Isabella took the name Sojourner Truth, and
became a travelling preacher (the meaning of her new name). In the late 1840s, she
connected with the abolitionist movement and became a popular speaker against
anti-slavery. Soon after she took up the cause of women’s rights, and began speaking
on woman suffrage. Her most famous speech, ‘Ain’t I a woman?’ was given in 1851
at a Women’s Rights Convention in Ohio.
Sojourner Truth met Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
who wrote about her in the popular journal, Atlantic Monthly. She also wrote a new
introduction to Truth’s autobiography, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth.
READING COMPREHENSION
During the American Civil War, Sojourner Truth raised food and clothing contributions
for Black regiments, and met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1864. While there,
she tried to challenge the discrimination that segregated horse-drawn streetcars by
race. Immediately after the Civil War ended, Sojourner Truth tried to organise efforts
to provide
jobs for Black refugees from the war. For some time, she also spoke widely advocating
a ‘Negro (Black) State’ in the west of the country. Later, her addresses focused mostly
on religion, ‘Negro’ (Black) and women’s rights, and on temperance. Active until 1875,
Sojourner Truth returned to Michigan when her health began to deteriorate. She died
in 1883 of infection in her legs. She was buried in Battle Creek, Michigan, after a very
well-attended funeral.
A.
Choose the most appropriate option to complete the following sentences.
1. Isabella Baumfree was
a) born into slavery. b) sold into slavery. c) married into slavery.
2. She got her last name from
a) her father. b) her father’s owner. c) her husband.
3. In 1827, the Anti-Slavery Law passed in New York
a) abolished slavery.
b) freed all slaves.
c) liberated slaves in that state
4. Isabella ran away with her youngest child when
a) the Anti-Slavery Law was passed.
b) her masters refused to free her from slavery.
c) one of her children was sold into slavery in the South.
READING COMPREHENSION
B.
Write short answers to the following questions.
1. What incident in Isabella’s life was an early indication of her determination
to fight for her rights?
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2. What did Isabella change her name to? What does it mean?
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3. With which movements did Sojourner Truth become involved? How did
she support these movements?
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4. Describe Sojourner Truth’s association with Harriet Beecher Stowe.
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5. How did Sojourner help the Black cause in the American Civil War?
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READING COMPREHENSION
C.
Write a paragraph of about 75 words describing Sojourner Truth’s
contribution to the anti-slavery movement and women’s rights.
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D.
Match the following words from the passage with their meaning.
1. emancipated abstain from drinking alcohol
2. suffrage intended to eradicate
3. segregated liberated
4. abolitionist promoting
5. advocating separated
6. temperance the right to vote