Dumbstruck means

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following data.

He opened the door, but just a little, and shouted, Holy Mother, unless you promise to grant my wish, I will not open the door.

Kali became very angry indeed, but Raman was obstinate. After some arguments the Goddess had to yield.  Then he opened the door.  She entered.

Though she had ten heads, she was beautiful to look at. But Raman began to laugh as soon as he saw her.  He could not control his laughter.  He laughed and laughed and laughed till tears ran down his cheeks and his little tuft unfastened.

Goddess Kali was dumbstruck by this behaviour.  She asked him angrily, Why are you laughing like a fool?
Tenali Raman could not answer her. He was still laughing. This annoyed her more but she was helpless. She waited patiently.

After a long time Raman recovered and replied, Oh Goddess, forgive me. You are the most beautiful Mother I have seen in my life. But I am laughing because some foolish thought occurred to me when I looked at you.
The Goddess became furious and wanted to know what it was. Tenali Raman brought his palms together humbly and replied, Oh Mother, when I get a cold I find it difficult to blow the one nose I have.  I was wondering how you manage with the ten noses you have, when you catch a cold. Saying this he laughed, all the more.
The goddess could not help laughing too, when she heard him.  It was the first time that she had laughed at herself. She was pleased with the young man. So she offered him a boon. She gave him the gift of making people laugh.

Tenali Raman was not satisfied.  He said that the gift would only help others and not him. Kali thought that this was reasonable and she wanted to give him something more.
She took two silver cups and said, Son, here are two silver cups. One is full of honey, which will give you wisdom. The other cup contains milk which will give you riches. You can choose what you want.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following data.

Her father, Edward Moulton Barren, was, as Elizabeth later wrote, a very peculiar person.  "Heir to a fortune, educated at Harrow and Cambridge, he was nevertheless a complete domestic tyrant".  After bearing him twelve children, his gentle wife had little strength left for struggle against  him, and  the children never dared oppose  his wishes.

Yet Elizabeth's childhood was happy. She romped and studied with her eldest brother, learnt Greek and French, read widely and wrote poetic tragedies.  Her own tragedy began at fifteen with a cough and an injury to her back, which resulted in increasingly bad health.  Then her mother died.

Four years later, her father decided to sell the country home. The large family moved from house to house until her father bought No. 50 Wimpole Street.  There Elizabeth's health grew worse, and she became a creature of the shadows and silence.

As the years passed, the family grew used to her withdrawn life. She had a certain independence, for an uncle had left her a small income.  But her brothers and sisters were at the mercy of Mr. Barren's harsh rules, which hung over the household like thunder in heavy weather.  Chief among them was the absolute refusal to let his daughters marry.  He prevented the marriage of Elizabeth’s gay, dance-loving sister, Henrietta, and the scenes that followed broke Elizabeth’s heart. Yet she remained devoted to her father. It was a devotion that served to strengthen the walls of her prison.

Fill blank (iii).

Directions: Read the following passage having some numbered blanks.

It was as black in the closet as old blood. They had ____(i)____ me in and locked the door. I breathed heavily through my nose, fighting desperately to ____(ii)____ calm. I tried counting to ten on every intake of breath and to eight as I released each one slowly into the darkness. Luckily for me, they had pulled the gag so tightly into my open mouth that my nostrils were left ____(iii)____ and I was able to draw in one slow lungful after another of the stale, musty air. I tried hooking my fingernails under the silk scarf that ____(iv)____ my hands behind me, but since I always bit them to the quick, there was nothing to catch. Jolly good luck then, that I'd remembered to put my fingertips together, using them as ten firm little bases to press my palms ____(v)____ as they had pulled the knots tight.

Fill blank (ii).

Directions: Read the following passage having some numbered blanks.

It was as black in the closet as old blood. They had ____(i)____ me in and locked the door. I breathed heavily through my nose, fighting desperately to ____(ii)____ calm. I tried counting to ten on every intake of breath and to eight as I released each one slowly into the darkness. Luckily for me, they had pulled the gag so tightly into my open mouth that my nostrils were left ____(iii)____ and I was able to draw in one slow lungful after another of the stale, musty air. I tried hooking my fingernails under the silk scarf that ____(iv)____ my hands behind me, but since I always bit them to the quick, there was nothing to catch. Jolly good luck then, that I'd remembered to put my fingertips together, using them as ten firm little bases to press my palms ____(v)____ as they had pulled the knots tight.

Fill blank (iv).

Directions: Read the following passage having some numbered blanks.

It was as black in the closet as old blood. They had ____(i)____ me in and locked the door. I breathed heavily through my nose, fighting desperately to ____(ii)____ calm. I tried counting to ten on every intake of breath and to eight as I released each one slowly into the darkness. Luckily for me, they had pulled the gag so tightly into my open mouth that my nostrils were left ____(iii)____ and I was able to draw in one slow lungful after another of the stale, musty air. I tried hooking my fingernails under the silk scarf that ____(iv)____ my hands behind me, but since I always bit them to the quick, there was nothing to catch. Jolly good luck then, that I'd remembered to put my fingertips together, using them as ten firm little bases to press my palms ____(v)____ as they had pulled the knots tight.

Fill blank (i).

Directions: Read the following passage having some numbered blanks.

It was as black in the closet as old blood. They had ____(i)____ me in and locked the door. I breathed heavily through my nose, fighting desperately to ____(ii)____ calm. I tried counting to ten on every intake of breath and to eight as I released each one slowly into the darkness. Luckily for me, they had pulled the gag so tightly into my open mouth that my nostrils were left ____(iii)____ and I was able to draw in one slow lungful after another of the stale, musty air. I tried hooking my fingernails under the silk scarf that ____(iv)____ my hands behind me, but since I always bit them to the quick, there was nothing to catch. Jolly good luck then, that I'd remembered to put my fingertips together, using them as ten firm little bases to press my palms ____(v)____ as they had pulled the knots tight.

Directions: The sentences below convey a certain idea. Mark the sentence that does not convey this idea.

(1) The music of Mozart possessed a celestial quality to uplift the depressed soul. (2) Only a beastly soul will go to the extent of killing a newly born girl child. (3) The children are fascinated by the stories of seraphs. (4) The new born baby looked very cute with round cherubic face. (5) The tea was ambrosia after the slop I had been drinking.

Directions: The sentences below convey a certain idea. Pick the sentence that does not convey this idea.

(1) The streams of lava have in themselves the principles of incandescence and can attain white heat. (2) The bonfire smouldered the whole night and the smoke could be seen drifting over the paddock. (3) History is replete with the glowing examples of women achievers. (4) An aureole is symbolic of the man being holy. (5) After the eclipse, the sky was luminous with stars and planets.

Along with the woman's son and daughter, who was the third person weeping beside her?

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the question based on it.

The old woman died without pain, a death worth a woman whose life had been blameless. She was resting in her bed, lying on her back, with eyes closed, her face calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying. The whole pale face of the dead woman was, so calm, so satisfied that one could feel her sweet soul that lived in her body. She had been a pure and quiet soul. Kneeling beside the bed, her son, a judge with rigid principles, and her daughter, Maria, known as Sister Alis, were weeping with broken hearts. She had given them strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise. He, the man, had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. She, the girl, influenced by the virtue, which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man.

What made the son and the daughter inclined towards religion?

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the question based on it.

The old woman died without pain, a death worth a woman whose life had been blameless. She was resting in her bed, lying on her back, with eyes closed, her face calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying. The whole pale face of the dead woman was, so calm, so satisfied that one could feel her sweet soul that lived in her body. She had been a pure and quiet soul. Kneeling beside the bed, her son, a judge with rigid principles, and her daughter, Maria, known as Sister Alis, were weeping with broken hearts. She had given them strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise. He, the man, had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. She, the girl, influenced by the virtue, which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man.

In the passage, which of the following words means 'to strike with a firm blow'?

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the question based on it.

The old woman died without pain, a death worth a woman whose life had been blameless. She was resting in her bed, lying on her back, with eyes closed, her face calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying. The whole pale face of the dead woman was, so calm, so satisfied that one could feel her sweet soul that lived in her body. She had been a pure and quiet soul. Kneeling beside the bed, her son, a judge with rigid principles, and her daughter, Maria, known as Sister Alis, were weeping with broken hearts. She had given them strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise. He, the man, had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. She, the girl, influenced by the virtue, which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man.

Which kind of family did the woman and her children belong to?

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the question based on it.

The old woman died without pain, a death worth a woman whose life had been blameless. She was resting in her bed, lying on her back, with eyes closed, her face calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying. The whole pale face of the dead woman was, so calm, so satisfied that one could feel her sweet soul that lived in her body. She had been a pure and quiet soul. Kneeling beside the bed, her son, a judge with rigid principles, and her daughter, Maria, known as Sister Alis, were weeping with broken hearts. She had given them strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise. He, the man, had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. She, the girl, influenced by the virtue, which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man.

How could one make out that a sweet soul lived in the body of the woman who died?

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the question based on it.

The old woman died without pain, a death worth a woman whose life had been blameless. She was resting in her bed, lying on her back, with eyes closed, her face calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying. The whole pale face of the dead woman was, so calm, so satisfied that one could feel her sweet soul that lived in her body. She had been a pure and quiet soul. Kneeling beside the bed, her son, a judge with rigid principles, and her daughter, Maria, known as Sister Alis, were weeping with broken hearts. She had given them strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise. He, the man, had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. She, the girl, influenced by the virtue, which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man.

A simple device which consisted of rods that stood up on end like ninepins was replaced by a more sophisticated one because it failed

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the given question.

An earthquake comes like a thief in the night, without warning. It was necessary, therefore, to invent instruments that neither slumbered nor slept. Some devices were quite simple. One, for instance, consisted of rods of various lengths and thicknesses which would stand up on end like ninepins. When a shock came it shook the rigid table upon which these stood. If it were gentle, only the more unstable rods fell. If it were severe, they all fell. Thus, the rods by falling and by the direction in which they fell, recorded for the slumbering scientist, the strength of a shock that was too weak to waken him and the direction from which it came.

But, instruments far more delicate than that were needed if any really serious advance was to be made. The ideal to be aimed at was to devise an instrument that could record with a pen on paper the movements, of the ground or of the table, as the quake passed by. While I write, my pen moves but the paper keeps still. With practice, no doubt, I could, in time, learn to write by holding the pen still while the paper moved. That sounds a silly suggestion, but that was precisely the idea adopted in some of the early instruments (seismometers) for recording earthquake waves. But when table, penholder and paper are all moving, how is it possible to write legibly? The key to a solution of that problem lay in an everyday observation. Why does a person standing in a bus or train tend to fall when a sudden start is made? It is because his feet move on, but his head stays still.