English Reading Comprehension

Directions: Spelunkers International offers exploring tours in eight caves: Abbott, Benny, Caeser, Dangerfield, Ewell, Fields, Guinness, and Hope (1) Class 1 spelunkers may not attempt cave Ewell, Fields or Hope (2) Class 2 spelunkers may not attempt Hope (3) Class 3 spelunkers may attempt any cave (4) Cave Caesar may be attempted only by spelunkers who have previously explored cave Benny (5) Cave Fields may be attempted only by spelunkers who have previously explored cave Ewell (6) Only two of caves Benny, Caeser, Ewell, Fields, and Hope may be attempted by any explorer in a single tour If x + y = 3 and y/x= 2 then y = ?

Directions: Fill I, II, III and IV with P, Q, R and S to make a meaningful comprehension.

Once upon a time, there was a king, who was very lazy. He did not like to do anything. He waited (I) to serve him everything. He always used to lie in his bed. A time came when he really became inactive. He became so fat that he could not even (II) himself. He felt sick, doctors were called in to treat him. But, (III) him to become fit and fine. The king was a kind hearted and cordial person. All his subjects were (IV) the fact that their king was not well.

P. move around by Q. for his attendants R. sorry to learn about S. nothing could help

What does the term 'want' in the fourth stanza actually mean?

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE POOR CHILDREN

            Take heed of this small child of earth;
            He is great; he hath in him God most high.
            Children before their fleshly birth
            Are lights alive in the blue sky.

            In our light bitter world of wrong
            They come; God gives us them awhile.
            His speech is in their stammering tongue,
            And his forgiveness in their smile.

            Their sweet light rests upon our eyes.
            Alas! Their right to joy is plain.
            If they are hungry Paradise
            Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain.

            The want that saps their sinless flower
            Speaks judgment on sin's ministers.
            Man holds an angel in his power.
            Ah! Deep in Heaven what thunder stirs,

            When God seeks out these tender things
            Whom in the shadow where we sleep
            He sends us clothed about with wings,
            And finds them ragged babes that weep!

What does the poet mean by 'God gives us them awhile'?

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE POOR CHILDREN

            Take heed of this small child of earth;
            He is great; he hath in him God most high.
            Children before their fleshly birth
            Are lights alive in the blue sky.

            In our light bitter world of wrong
            They come; God gives us them awhile.
            His speech is in their stammering tongue,
            And his forgiveness in their smile.

            Their sweet light rests upon our eyes.
            Alas! Their right to joy is plain.
            If they are hungry Paradise
            Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain.

            The want that saps their sinless flower
            Speaks judgment on sin's ministers.
            Man holds an angel in his power.
            Ah! Deep in Heaven what thunder stirs,

            When God seeks out these tender things
            Whom in the shadow where we sleep
            He sends us clothed about with wings,
            And finds them ragged babes that weep!

Why does the poet think that the little child is great?

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE POOR CHILDREN

            Take heed of this small child of earth;
            He is great; he hath in him God most high.
            Children before their fleshly birth
            Are lights alive in the blue sky.

            In our light bitter world of wrong
            They come; God gives us them awhile.
            His speech is in their stammering tongue,
            And his forgiveness in their smile.

            Their sweet light rests upon our eyes.
            Alas! Their right to joy is plain.
            If they are hungry Paradise
            Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain.

            The want that saps their sinless flower
            Speaks judgment on sin's ministers.
            Man holds an angel in his power.
            Ah! Deep in Heaven what thunder stirs,

            When God seeks out these tender things
            Whom in the shadow where we sleep
            He sends us clothed about with wings,
            And finds them ragged babes that weep!

What does the poet want to convey through this poem?

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE POOR CHILDREN

            Take heed of this small child of earth;
            He is great; he hath in him God most high.
            Children before their fleshly birth
            Are lights alive in the blue sky.

            In our light bitter world of wrong
            They come; God gives us them awhile.
            His speech is in their stammering tongue,
            And his forgiveness in their smile.

            Their sweet light rests upon our eyes.
            Alas! Their right to joy is plain.
            If they are hungry Paradise
            Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain.

            The want that saps their sinless flower
            Speaks judgment on sin's ministers.
            Man holds an angel in his power.
            Ah! Deep in Heaven what thunder stirs,

            When God seeks out these tender things
            Whom in the shadow where we sleep
            He sends us clothed about with wings,
            And finds them ragged babes that weep!

What does the poet mean when he says 'how way leads on to way'?

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ---
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

The poet decided to take the other path because

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ---
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

In the end the poet says that

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ---
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Although the poet decided that he would pursue the first path some other time,

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ---
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

The poet could not travel both the roads because

Directions: Read the following poem carefully and answer the question.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ---
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Who hides in the cooling trees?

Why did author stand transfix at the rail?

Directions: Study the situation given below and answer the question.
IN VERACRUZ, during nearly two decades of research, I have come to realize the deep indebtedness of the present to the past. Even today, and usually unconsciously, the people of this only favoured state adhere to many customs and traditions that echo ancient ways. Their lives culminate an eighty century continuum of human experience.

In our understanding of Mesoamerican civilization, between the well known cultures of the Maya and of highland Mexico, the Gulf coast of Vera Cruz had remained a gray area of scattered knowledge. A multi- disciplinary scientific effort over the past 12 years was sought to fill in the gaps. We have traced the evolutionary chronology of Vera Cruz from an early hunting and gathering era through a remarkably artistic civilization known as EL Tajin, and beyond that society demise to Spanish conquest and the present day synthesis of Indian and European cultures.

Blessed in the vitality and diversity of its people, Vera Cruz profits also from fertile soils, abundant rainfall, a 450 mile long sea coast with harbours and excellent fishing, reserves of oil and natural gas. From the narrow coastal plain the land rises steeply through diverse ecological zones to glacier. Capped Orizaba, at 18,700 feet the third highest mountain in North America, after Mount McKinley and Moung Logan. A few score mile separate tropical shores from the dry, high plateau of central Mexico west of the Sierra Madre Oriental.

Cortes gave the name La Villa Rica De La Vera Cruz (Rich Villa of the True Cross) to the town he founded during Easter week in 1519. From that first formal European settlement of the New World mainland, Cortes marched inland with his Spanish adventures and Indian allies to conquer Aztec Mexicans. Thus, began the slow merging of Renaissance Europe and aboriginal America.

Vera Cruz city and region prospered. Commerce, ranching, fishing and sugarcane production contributed first to the colonial and then to the Mexican economy.

The preeminent modern resources are, of course, oil and natural gas. In northern Vera Cruz alone, the Chicontepec area hold almost 15 percent of Mexico estimated reserves. I remember, in the early sixties, driving from the state capital of Jalapa to the Totonac market town of Papantla. Riding the ferry across the Tecolutla River dark, I stood transfixed of the tail. Up- stream the sky, heavy with clouds, pulsated with color. It glowed red to pink, reflecting the burn-off of gas in oil fields known as the New Golden Lane. The scene was surrealistic spell bounding.

We changed past clusters of dugout canoes from which local fishermen cast their nets on the changing tide. In the channel, porpoises leaped as if in some aquatic celebration, fragments of the popular folk music known as los sones waited from the far shore. Harp and guitar in some small restaurant sent out these strains, which wove a graceful counterpart to the visual drama of man superscribed technology.

The farmers consider sparrows a nuisance because

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
Years ago, people woke up to find sparrows chirping in their backyard. A noisy lot, they took grains right from your hand if you had befriended them. They got over their fear easily and demanded food or water with their loud chirping if you had forgotten to give them their regular share of food. Tiny pink beaks opened to morsels of food or worms sometimes regurgitated by the parent birds. We had a splendid time watching the bird family bond and as children sat gazing at them as they picked up grain or splashed about us in muddy water.
Many people have written poems and lyrics on sparrows, their noisy chirps, their friendly nature, and their spotty feathers. Sparrows were a menace on the fields. There were guards with slings and stones to chase them away as they ate grains from standing crops. Now, people are trying to woo them back to nature.