Question 8

One feels tempted to look into a mirror when it is near. I took a look. In those days I was a great admirer of beauty and I believed in making myself look handsome. I was unmarried and was a doctor. I felt I had to make my presence felt. I picked up the comb and ran it through my hair and adjusted the parting so that it looked straight and neat. Again I heard that sound from above. I took a close look at my face in the mirror. I made an important decision – I would shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome. I was, after all, a bachelor, and a doctor!

1. ‘One feels tempted to look into a minor.’ Why does the doctor say so?

2. What impression do you get about the character of the doctor?

3. What decision did the doctor take?
4. ‘I heard a sound from above.’ Begin the sentence with ‘A sound’.
5. Read the following sentence. He was unmarried and was a doctor.
Now, frame a sentence of the same pattern in which ‘and’ connects two verb phrases.

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Answer key

Question 8Question 8

1. The doctor was a great admirer of beauty and believed in making himself look handsome.

2. Great admirer of beauty/proud of his appearance/ liked to make his presence felt.

3. To shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome.

4. The sound was heard from above.

5. I went to the market and bought a dozen oranges.

It was a hot  summer night about ten o’ clock. I had my meal at the restaurant and returned to my room. I heard a noise from above as I opened the door. The sound was a familiar one. One could say that rats and I shared the room. I took out my box of matches and lighted the kerosene lamp on the table. The house was not electrified; it was a small rented room. I had just set up medical practice and my earnings were meagre. I had about sixty rupees in my suitcase. Along with some shirts and dhotis, I also possessed one solitary black coat which I was thenwearing.

1. What indication about the time and weather do you get from the passage?
2. Pick out a sentence from the passage which tells you that there were rats in the room.
3. Which sentences tell you that the doctor’s financial condition was poor?
4. Imagine that the doctor writes a letter to his friend explaining his life in the rented room. What may be the likely letter? Draft the letter.

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Answer key

1. Hot summer night Ten o’ clock
2. ‘One could say that rats and I shared the room.’

3. ‘I had just set up medical practice and my earnings were meager. I had about sixty rupees in my suitcase. Along with some shirts and dhotis, I also possessed one solitary black coat which I was then wearing.’
4. Letter

Read the passage from the story ‘Vanka’ and answer the questions that follow: Question 6

Grandfather would drag the tree to the big house, and they would start decorating it… Miss Olga Ignatyevna, Vanka’s favourite, was the busiest of all. While Pelageya, Vanka’s mother, was alive and in service at the big house, Olga Ignatyevna used to give Vanka sweets, and amuse herself by teaching him to read, write and count to a hundred, and even to dance the quadrille. But when Pelageya died, the orphaned Vanka was sent
down to the back kitchen to his grandfather, and from there to Moscow, to Alyakhin the shoemaker….

1.When did Vanka spend his time with Miss Olga Ignatyevna?
2.Olga Ignatyevna used to give Vanka sweets…’ What do you understand from this statement?
3.How did Miss Olga help Vanka?
4.What happened to Vanka after the death of his mother?

5. Complete the following sentence.
If Pelageya had not died,…………………

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Answer key

Question 6
1. When his mother was alive and in service at the
big house.
2. She was very loving, kind and generous.
3. She taught him to read, write, count to a hundred
and even dance the quadrille.
4. He was sent down to the back kitchen to his
grandfather and from there to the shoemaker’s at
Moscow.
5. Vanka would have lived with her in the big house.