English Reading Comprehension

Horses employed in the army needed to possess stamina so that they can

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

Rupert was born and raised in the vast, open interior of the Australian continent.

His only unpleasant childhood memory was when he was separated from his mother and brought in with many other young horses of his age and branded with a hot iron. The pain was only momentary: but the mark ….. 2GD/20 ….. remained on his nearside shoulder for the rest of his life. The brand indicated that Rupert’s birthplace was Gordon Downs Station in the Australian state of Queensland.

It was shortly after this experience that Rupert was driven to the coast and then put onboard a ship and sent to India. He showed the stamina to tread the rugged terrain with ease. Rupert was selected to be a cavalry horse in the Indian Army.

Rupert was a magnificent looking horse and was a great cavalry horse as he performed his duties extremely well. He was clever, brave, strong and fast.

On one occasion, the heir to the British throne – the Prince of Wales – was visiting India when he saw Rupert. The Prince was so taken by this beautiful black cavalry horse that he was determined to buy him: which he did. And he sent him to England by ship.

Eventually the Prince of Wales became King of England and Emperor of India. For the rest of his life, Rupert remained the King’s favourite charger and lived in the Royal Stables in London. What a story Rupert could have told had he been able to write it down!

Which word from the second paragraph indicates that the pain from Rupert’s branding was short-lived?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

Rupert was born and raised in the vast, open interior of the Australian continent.

His only unpleasant childhood memory was when he was separated from his mother and brought in with many other young horses of his age and branded with a hot iron. The pain was only momentary: but the mark ….. 2GD/20 ….. remained on his nearside shoulder for the rest of his life. The brand indicated that Rupert’s birthplace was Gordon Downs Station in the Australian state of Queensland.

It was shortly after this experience that Rupert was driven to the coast and then put onboard a ship and sent to India. He showed the stamina to tread the rugged terrain with ease. Rupert was selected to be a cavalry horse in the Indian Army.

Rupert was a magnificent looking horse and was a great cavalry horse as he performed his duties extremely well. He was clever, brave, strong and fast.

On one occasion, the heir to the British throne – the Prince of Wales – was visiting India when he saw Rupert. The Prince was so taken by this beautiful black cavalry horse that he was determined to buy him: which he did. And he sent him to England by ship.

Eventually the Prince of Wales became King of England and Emperor of India. For the rest of his life, Rupert remained the King’s favourite charger and lived in the Royal Stables in London. What a story Rupert could have told had he been able to write it down!

What is the most likely reason for branding horses in Australia?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

Rupert was born and raised in the vast, open interior of the Australian continent.

His only unpleasant childhood memory was when he was separated from his mother and brought in with many other young horses of his age and branded with a hot iron. The pain was only momentary: but the mark ….. 2GD/20 ….. remained on his nearside shoulder for the rest of his life. The brand indicated that Rupert’s birthplace was Gordon Downs Station in the Australian state of Queensland.

It was shortly after this experience that Rupert was driven to the coast and then put onboard a ship and sent to India. He showed the stamina to tread the rugged terrain with ease. Rupert was selected to be a cavalry horse in the Indian Army.

Rupert was a magnificent looking horse and was a great cavalry horse as he performed his duties extremely well. He was clever, brave, strong and fast.

On one occasion, the heir to the British throne – the Prince of Wales – was visiting India when he saw Rupert. The Prince was so taken by this beautiful black cavalry horse that he was determined to buy him: which he did. And he sent him to England by ship.

Eventually the Prince of Wales became King of England and Emperor of India. For the rest of his life, Rupert remained the King’s favourite charger and lived in the Royal Stables in London. What a story Rupert could have told had he been able to write it down!

How does the reader know that this story belongs to a distant past?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

Rupert was born and raised in the vast, open interior of the Australian continent.

His only unpleasant childhood memory was when he was separated from his mother and brought in with many other young horses of his age and branded with a hot iron. The pain was only momentary: but the mark ….. 2GD/20 ….. remained on his nearside shoulder for the rest of his life. The brand indicated that Rupert’s birthplace was Gordon Downs Station in the Australian state of Queensland.

It was shortly after this experience that Rupert was driven to the coast and then put onboard a ship and sent to India. He showed the stamina to tread the rugged terrain with ease. Rupert was selected to be a cavalry horse in the Indian Army.

Rupert was a magnificent looking horse and was a great cavalry horse as he performed his duties extremely well. He was clever, brave, strong and fast.

On one occasion, the heir to the British throne – the Prince of Wales – was visiting India when he saw Rupert. The Prince was so taken by this beautiful black cavalry horse that he was determined to buy him: which he did. And he sent him to England by ship.

Eventually the Prince of Wales became King of England and Emperor of India. For the rest of his life, Rupert remained the King’s favourite charger and lived in the Royal Stables in London. What a story Rupert could have told had he been able to write it down!

Directions: Read the passage and fill up the blank (14) with the most appropriate option.

Boss's untimely (11) _______ has a very profound effect on the working of the other team members. A boss is a person who acts as a role model, whom other fellow workers (12) _______. A boss rather than berating his subordinates, should try to (13) _______ their mistakes. This is the best way to show (14) _______ towards them. A (15) _______ boss would always try to (16) _______ his responsibilities and would always (17) _______ and (18) _______ around. In order to be one of the(19) _______ members of the organization, he should be able to (20) _______ the major causes of grievance among the workers. All this, he should be able to do at the (21) _______ stage, so that these problems do not (22) _______ the working of the organization as a whole.

What does the passage mean by ‘tossing’?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Pigeons have an instinctive ability to navigate by the sun, the earth’s magnetic field and by infrasound or hearing distant low-frequency sound waves. However, due to adverse weather or man-created conditions, e.g. cell tower signals emitting radiation which results in disorientation and windmills which affect all birds and bats too, they increasingly find it difficult to pick up proper directions to reach “home”, but no matter what, most do eventually return safe. Homers are a breed of pigeons named so because many have flown back to their “homes” from long distances. They are made to race between 8 months to 5 years of age. Training is called “tossing” which involves, as just mentioned, taking the birds to a place and releasing them. The time they take to return home needs to be noted.

What according to the passage can cause disorientation for birds and bats?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Pigeons have an instinctive ability to navigate by the sun, the earth’s magnetic field and by infrasound or hearing distant low-frequency sound waves. However, due to adverse weather or man-created conditions, e.g. cell tower signals emitting radiation which results in disorientation and windmills which affect all birds and bats too, they increasingly find it difficult to pick up proper directions to reach “home”, but no matter what, most do eventually return safe. Homers are a breed of pigeons named so because many have flown back to their “homes” from long distances. They are made to race between 8 months to 5 years of age. Training is called “tossing” which involves, as just mentioned, taking the birds to a place and releasing them. The time they take to return home needs to be noted.

What are ‘homers’ according to the passage?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Pigeons have an instinctive ability to navigate by the sun, the earth’s magnetic field and by infrasound or hearing distant low-frequency sound waves. However, due to adverse weather or man-created conditions, e.g. cell tower signals emitting radiation which results in disorientation and windmills which affect all birds and bats too, they increasingly find it difficult to pick up proper directions to reach “home”, but no matter what, most do eventually return safe. Homers are a breed of pigeons named so because many have flown back to their “homes” from long distances. They are made to race between 8 months to 5 years of age. Training is called “tossing” which involves, as just mentioned, taking the birds to a place and releasing them. The time they take to return home needs to be noted.

What is the passage about?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Pigeons have an instinctive ability to navigate by the sun, the earth’s magnetic field and by infrasound or hearing distant low-frequency sound waves. However, due to adverse weather or man-created conditions, e.g. cell tower signals emitting radiation which results in disorientation and windmills which affect all birds and bats too, they increasingly find it difficult to pick up proper directions to reach “home”, but no matter what, most do eventually return safe. Homers are a breed of pigeons named so because many have flown back to their “homes” from long distances. They are made to race between 8 months to 5 years of age. Training is called “tossing” which involves, as just mentioned, taking the birds to a place and releasing them. The time they take to return home needs to be noted.

What is the theme of the passage?

Directions: Read the Passage and answer the question that follows.

The CRPF has an all-India character, both in organisation and in deployment. Its various attributes are mobility, adaptability, wide spectrum of duties and graded response. The force keeps on moving from one corner of the country to the other to deal with internal security challenges. They played a significant role during the amalgamation of the princely States into the Indian Union. It helped the Union Government in disciplining the rebellious princely States of Junagarh and the small principality of Kathiawar in Gujarat which had declined to join the Indian Union. Soon after Independence, contingents of the CRPF were sent on Kutch, Rajasthan and Sindh borders to check infiltration and trans-border crimes. They were, subsequently, deployed on the Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir following attacks launched by the Pakistani infiltrators. The CRPF bore the brunt of the first Chinese attack on India at Hot Springs (Ladakh) on October 21, 1959.

Firefighters are there to help people from ______.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Firefighters
Fire is to blame for countless lives and billions of rupees each and every year. Firefighters help protect people and their property from injury and damage. Firefighters put their life on the line every time they respond to a call.
While on duty, firefighters must be ready to respond in a matter of minutes to just about any disaster that may occur. At every fire scene, superior fire officer takes command and dictates the jobs of all the personnel at the scene. Some personnel man hose lines to hydrants. Others manually operate the pumps to send water to the hoses. Teams of firefighters also operate ladders used to reach distances high in the air.

Fish are called ______.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

                                                Being a Fish
                                         By Russell E. Erickson 
Would it be fun to be a fish? They are, after all, quite different from us.
Fish have no ears as we do. Their bodies are covered with thin, flat plates called scales. The only sounds they know are what they feel using certain scales along their sides. These are special scales called lateral lines. 
We get oxygen from the air by using our lungs. Fish get oxygen from the water by using the gills on the sides of their heads. We can play in water and on land, but fish must stay in the water all the time. Fish never get hot or cold. They are called cold-blooded because they are always the same temperature as the water around them. That means they have no need for hot soup, or cold lemonade, or cozy blankets, or cool sandals.
All in all, it’s probably more fun being us.

From where do fish get oxygen?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

                                                Being a Fish
                                         By Russell E. Erickson 
Would it be fun to be a fish? They are, after all, quite different from us.
Fish have no ears as we do. Their bodies are covered with thin, flat plates called scales. The only sounds they know are what they feel using certain scales along their sides. These are special scales called lateral lines. 
We get oxygen from the air by using our lungs. Fish get oxygen from the water by using the gills on the sides of their heads. We can play in water and on land, but fish must stay in the water all the time. Fish never get hot or cold. They are called cold-blooded because they are always the same temperature as the water around them. That means they have no need for hot soup, or cold lemonade, or cozy blankets, or cool sandals.
All in all, it’s probably more fun being us.

From the above passage, according to the author, whose life is referred to as fun?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

                                                Being a Fish
                                         By Russell E. Erickson 
Would it be fun to be a fish? They are, after all, quite different from us.
Fish have no ears as we do. Their bodies are covered with thin, flat plates called scales. The only sounds they know are what they feel using certain scales along their sides. These are special scales called lateral lines. 
We get oxygen from the air by using our lungs. Fish get oxygen from the water by using the gills on the sides of their heads. We can play in water and on land, but fish must stay in the water all the time. Fish never get hot or cold. They are called cold-blooded because they are always the same temperature as the water around them. That means they have no need for hot soup, or cold lemonade, or cozy blankets, or cool sandals.
All in all, it’s probably more fun being us.

In the passage, the author compares fish with ______.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

                                                Being a Fish
                                         By Russell E. Erickson 
Would it be fun to be a fish? They are, after all, quite different from us.
Fish have no ears as we do. Their bodies are covered with thin, flat plates called scales. The only sounds they know are what they feel using certain scales along their sides. These are special scales called lateral lines. 
We get oxygen from the air by using our lungs. Fish get oxygen from the water by using the gills on the sides of their heads. We can play in water and on land, but fish must stay in the water all the time. Fish never get hot or cold. They are called cold-blooded because they are always the same temperature as the water around them. That means they have no need for hot soup, or cold lemonade, or cozy blankets, or cool sandals.
All in all, it’s probably more fun being us.