DISCOVERING TUT-THE SAGA CONTINUES

Q1. Why did King Tut’s mummy have to undergo CT scan?
Ans. The mummy of King Tut has earned worldwide fame for the riches it was buried with. Further there arose a great controversy about the manner of his death and his age at the time of death. Keeping in the view this controversy, King Tut’s body was ordered to be scanned to examine the delayed medical mysteries about his life and death.
Q2. Why was Tut’s dead body subjected to CT scrutiny?
Ans. Tut’s dead body was subjected to X-rays in 1968 and CT scan in 2005 to ascertain the cause of his death.
Q3. In 1968 what was the startling fact revealed by a professor of anatomy about king Tut?
Ans. In 1968, more than 40 years after Carter’s discovery of king Tut’s tomb, a professor of anatomy X-rayed Tut’s mummy. He revealed an astonishing fact that beneath the resin that layers his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs are missing. It startled everyone.
Q4. Who did point out that the mummy was in a bad condition? Who was held responsible for it?
Ans. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, bent over the mummy and watched it very carefully. Then he said the mummy is in a very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920s. It was in 1922, Carter discovered king Tut’s tomb.
Q5. Why did some people think the King Tut’s untimely death as the Pharaoh’s curse?
Ans. After king Akhenaten’s death a mysterious ruler became the king for a short while and died. Then a very young Tutankhaten took the throne. He changed his name to Tutankhamun, “Living image of Amun.” He restored the worship of Amun whose images were broken and temples closed by the Pharaoh. Thus king Tut disturbed the Pharaoh. Akhenaten and his curse – death Akhenaten had befallen on Tut causing his untimely death in his late teens.
Q6.What problem did Carter face when he reached the mummy of King Tut? How did he find a way out?
Ans: When Carter alongwith his men were working at the tomb of King Tut, they found that the ritual resins had hardened. They had cemented and the mummy of King Tut could not be taken out. The solidified material could be removed through chisels. The mummy was cut free. His men removed Tut’s head and severed every major joint. Then they were kept in a box on a layer of sand. He defended his act lest the mummy should not fall into the hands of thieves for getting gold.
Q7.List some adornments on Tut’s body. Why had the adornments been buried along with the body?
Ans. The mummy of Tut was decorated with precious collars, inlaid necklaces, rings, bracelets, amulets and a ceremonial apron. There were sandals, sheaths for fingers and toes and the inner golden coffin and mask. All of them were made of pure gold. According to the beliefs it was thought that they could take their riches with them to the great beyond.
Q8.How was Tut’s body carried to the C.T scanner?
Ans. On the night of the scan, workmen carried Tut from the tomb in his box. Like pallbearers they climbed ramp and a flight of stairs into the swirling sand outside. Then they rose on a hydraulic lift into the trailer that held the scanner.
Q9. How was King Tut’s mummy scanned by the CT scanner?
Ans. In order to remove the mystery over the death of King Tut, a portable CT scanner was taken in a trailer to the sandy area near Tut’s tomb. His body was carried there from his tomb in a box. The CT machine scanned the mummy from head to toe, creating 1700 digital X-ray images in cross-section. His entire body was scanned in 0.62 millimetre slices.                                  
Q10. What did the CT scan of Tut’s mummy reveal?
Ans. CT scanning gave surprising as well as fascinating images of Tut’s body. The image of a gray head appeared on the computer screen. Neck bones appeared quite clearly. Other images of Tut’s body appeared on the screen. They included a hand and several views of rib-cage and the skull.

10 tips to study effectively before exams if you have a lot of syllabus left

Studying for 12 hours or 14 hours a day is very unhealthy; yet we force ourselves to study almost all day in the days before our exam to finish our syllabus. The trick is to make the study time shorter but more effective.

10 tips to study effectively for long hours right before exams

For those of you who neglect your textbooks all through the year, exams turn into a nightmare. It becomes a race to see how fast you can cram a year's worth of syllabus. With the Board exams around the corner, there are many of you probably doing the same.

During a time of such intense exam pressure, you first need to realise that studying for 12 hours a day is not something very healthy and you can rarely, if ever, adapt yourself to doing something like that. What is most effective is studying with full concentration in small pockets and taking short breaks in between. Your focus shouldn't be on HOW LONG you studied but on HOW MUCH you studied.

Here are a few tips that can make your long study sessions the most effective and help you concentrate the most:

1.

Study smaller quantities of syllabus every day instead of taking on huge portions. If you hurry with all the chapters you haven't yet covered, you will be able to memorise very little of it for exam day.

2.

The optimal period of continuous study is 2 hours. Each period of 2 hours can again be broken down into slots of 25 minutes of solid studying followed by 5 minutes of break. If you need to continue studying, take longer breaks of around 20 minutes after every 2 hours.

3.

When you are on 'break', you should keep your mind free from any exam related thoughts or stress. If you use the break time to discuss the syllabus with friends or plan your next round of studying, then your mind is not on a break. If your mind doesn't take a break, the next round of studying is not going to be as effective.

4.

Study material in a syllabus can be divided into core material and elaborative material. While core material consists of important principles, theorems, formulae, important diagrams and graphs, elaborative material consists of examples, quotes, illustrations etc. As much as 80 per cent of the questions asked in an exam are likely to come from the core material. So, if you are struggling with unfinished syllabus, concentrate on the core material of the different subjects. Moreover, study the question patterns of the last few years and make sure you are not spending too much time on topics that are highly unlikely to be asked in the exam.

5.

Before you schedule your study list for the day, you need to take into account that the subjects we learn can be divided into three categories:Memory dependant subjects like Biology, History and Geography, which contain a lot of material that need to be mugged up.Problem solving subjects such as Maths and Physics.Interpretation based subjects such as English Literature and literature papers from other languages.For most effective studying, you should alternate between each category of subjects in long study periods.

6.

Reading the chapters and highlighting important portions help a lot, but when you write down the important points you read in a piece of rough paper or your notebook, it helps you retain information even more. Read important points aloud and write them down after. This makes sure that you don't just SEE the points, but you HEAR them and WRITE them too.

7.

Proper note taking is very important for effectively completing the syllabus at the last minute. There are two scientifically proven methods of note-taking that work the best-SQ5R and Cornell Notes.

a) SQ5R is short for Survey, Questions, Read, Record, Recite, Review and Reflect.

• Survey: Skim through the textbook and mark important areas. Don't take more than 7-10 minutes

• Question: In your textbook, turn the headings and subheadings into questions that could be asked in the exam. Jot down possible questions at the side of important portions of text

• Read, Record, Recite: Go through the text again and record important points in your own words separately. Put them in bullets or in boxes for better visual representation. Recite the points you noted to yourself

• Review: Ask yourself the questions you noted and see if you can answer them properly

• Reflect: Repeat the above steps and reflect on the topic you learned till it's completely memorised

b) Cornell Notes is an effective three-column configuration of taking notes which makes memorising and recalling information much easier. When revising, one can easily cover the right column and try to answer the questions on the left.

8.

Stick a couple of chart papers on your wall and cupboards and write down dates, formulae, mnemonics and tit-bits of important information that are very difficult to learn. Keeping these in front of your eyes all the time will help you lean them more easily than trying to mug them. Create flashcards for the difficult bits and carry them around. You can go through them while commuting, or standing in a queue somewhere.

9.

If you are studying untouched chapters or uncovered syllabus in the last few days before the exam, you need to know that the three Rs are very important. Any new information you learn needs to be Recapped, Reviewed and Reinforced within 24 hours. If you fail to do so, you lose 80 per cent of the information you learned. Science says so.

10.

Most students stay up late till night to finish revising before exams. You need to remember that it is proper sleep that turns your short term memory-what you just studied, to long term memory-what you can recall sitting in the exam hall. So, sleep 7-8 hours every night to make sure all of your day's studying is actually retained by your brain.

These 10 tips to effectively study for longer periods and finish your syllabus in the last few days will keep you crack your board exams.

One quick test that can tell you how much you have learned is trying to explain the concepts of a topic to someone who doesn't know it yet. It could be a sibling, parent, grandparent or friend. The moment you face trouble trying to explain a certain concept in layman's terms, you will understand you need another revision.

So, keep aside the stress, and get down to work! All the best!

THE SUMMER OF THE BEAUTIFUL WHITE HORSE

Q1. Who were Aram and Mourard?

Ans. Aram and Mourad were cousins. Aram was nine years old. Mourad was thirteen. Both of them were fond of horse-riding. They belonged to the garoghlanian tribe of Armenians.

Q2. How does the narrator describe the Garoghlanian family?Ans. Garoghlanian family had the reputation for honesty that has been maintained by its family members for hundreds of years. Every one trusted them. These people took pride in the fact that they were honest in spite of their poverty.

Q3. What did the narrator see when he looked out of the window? Why couldn’t he believe his eyes? Ans. The narrator heard a tap on the window of his room. When he looked out, he saw his cousin Mourad sitting on a beautiful white horse. He could not believe his eyes because Mourad belonged to a poor family. He could not afford to buy such a lovely horse. Surely, he had stolen it.

Q4. Though Aram suspected his brother of stealing, he dispelled the suspicion. Why?

Ans. Aram could not think that his cousin – a member of the honest tribe – could ever steal.

Q5. What message is conveyed through the story ‘The Summer of the Beautiful Horse’?
Ans. The primary message of the story, The Summer of the Beautiful Horse, is that despite social or economic challenges, there are some truths which are absolute and should be practised under and all conditioned. It is undeniable that the story is set within a family that is poor. Their poverty is not used as a crutch or something that limits the emotional quotient of the boys or the people in the community. The boys’ love for the horse is genuine and sincere, not motivated out of some ulterior motive of greed or economic want. Their love for the animal is quite authentic. When they return the horse, they have a genuine understanding that they need to return what is not theirs. They are not motivated by anything else other than the highly human reaction of wanting to make right what is wrongx

x

INDIGO Extra questions

Q. 1. How did Shukla succeed in persuading Gandhiji to visit Champaran ?

Or

What made Gandhi to surrender to the wish of Rajkumar Shukla and board a train to Patna in Bihar ?                                                                                                 (Imp.)

Ans. Rajkumar Shukla wanted Gandhiji to visit Champaran to take up the cause of sharecroppers there. Gandhiji told Shukla that he had an appointment in Kanpur. He was also committed to go to other parts of India. Shukla followed Gandhiji to the ashram. He went to Calcutta when Gandhiji arrived there. Gandhiji was impressed by his tenacity and story. They boarded the train for Patna.

Q. 2. Why did Gandhi chide (scold)the lawyers of Muzaffarpur ?                

Ans. Muzaffarpur lawyers called on Gandhi to brief him. They had frequently represented peasants in courts. Gandhi chided them for collecting big fees from the poor sharecrop­pers. When peasants were so poor and crushed, it was inhuman to charge heavy fees from them.

Q. 3. Gandhi was involved in a 'conflict of duties'. What did he decide in the end and why? 

Ans. Gandhi was involved in a 'conflict of duties'. On the one hand, he didn't want to set a bad example. He didn't want to be a law-breaker. On the other hand, he couldn't give up the cause of the poor peasants of Champaran. Therefore, he heard the 'voice of conscience' in the end. He decided to disobey the order.

Q. 4. How could Gandhi persuade the lawyers to follow him into jail ?

Ans. Many prominent lawyers of Bihar came to confer with Gandhi. Gandhi asked what they would do if he was sentenced to prison. A senior lawyer told frankly that they would go home. Gandhi asked them about the injustice done to the sharecroppers. The lawyers felt ashamed. They finally declared that they were ready to'-follow' him into jail.

Q. 5. The settlement of 25% refund to the farmers appeared rather small. Why did Gandhi agree to it and how did events justify his position ?              

Ans. According to the settlement, the planters were to refund 25% of the compensation money to the peasants. The achievement appeared to be rather small but events justified his position. But for Gandhi the amount of refund was less important. More important was the fact that the landlords were forced to surrender part of their right. So he agreed to the settle­ment.

Q. 6. 'The Champaran episode was a turning point in Gandhi's life’? How do you justify it ?

Ans. The Champaran episode was really a turning point in Gandhi's life. It began not as an act of defiance. It was an effort to remove the distress of poor peasants. The success of Champaran justified Gandhi's ways and means. It gave a message. The Britishers were dreaded and unquestioned but now they could be challenged by the Indians. The success of Champaran was the success of peaceful Civil Disobedience in modern India.

INDIGO BY- LOUIS FISHER

Please, Note down the questions in your class work copy with proper indexing

Q. 1. How did Gandhi help the poor in Champaran to achieve freedom from fear ? What made indigo share-cropping disappear ? (A. I. CBSE 2008)

Ans. Gandhiji came to Champaran to fight against the injustice of the landlord system there. First he went to Muzaffarpur to obtain complete information about the actual condi­tions there. He met Kriplani and Prof. Malkani who briefed him on the matter. Most of the land in Champaran was divided into large estates owned by Englishmen. They were worked by Indian tenants to grow indigo. The landlords compelled all tenants to plant 15 per cent of their holding with indigo. They surrendered the entire harvest as rent. When synthetic indigo was developed in Germany indigo plantation no longer remained profitable. The landlords released the tenants from 15 per cent agreement. Thus, indigo sharecropping disappeared. They obtained agreements from sharecroppers to pay them compensation. Many refused to sign and others wanted their money back. At this point Gandhiji arrived in Champaran.

A huge crowd welcomed Gandhiji at Champaran. The commissioner advised him to leave the place. Gandhiji didn't oblige him. He decided to disobey the order. He received a summon to appear in the court the next day. Thousands of peasants demonstrated around the court house. It was the beginning of their liberation from fear of the British. The case against Gandhiji was dropped. Civil disobedience had triumphed for the first time in India.

Q. 2. Describe the trial of Gandhi in Motihari court during the Champaran movement. When and why did Gandhi declare : "The battle of Champaran is won" ?

Ans. Gandhi came to Motihari, the capital of Champaran. He had already equipped himself with the necessary facts and information. Gandhi called on the British Commissioner. He tried to bully Gandhi and advised him to leave the place at once.

Gandhi did not leave the place. Instead he proceeded to Motihari. A huge crowd greeted him at the station. He received an official notice to quit Champaran immediately. Gandhi decided to disobey the order. As a result, he was summoned to appear in the court the next day.

Gandhi wired a full report to the Viceroy. Thousands of peasants held a spontaneous demonstration around the courthouse. The government was baffled. Gandhi was in a 'conflict of duties'. He didn't want to be a law breaker but he had a cause before him. Finally, he heard "the voice of his conscience". He was set free without the bail. Gandhi asked the prominent lawyers what they would do if he was sent to jail. They finally decided to accompany Gandhi to jail. This emboldened Gandhi. He declared: "The battle of Champaran is won". The case against Gandhi was dropped. Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed for the first time in modern India.

Q. 3. Describe the exploitation of the indigo sharecroppers by English land­lords in Champaran. Did Gandhi help them to get an honourable settlement? (V. Imp.)

Ans. Most of the arable land in Champaran was owned by English landlords. The Indian tenants worked on the land. The chief commercial crop was indigo. The English planters compelled all sharecroppers to plant 15% of their holdings with indigo. They had to surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent to the landlords. This was done by a long-term contract. Then Germany developed synthetic indigo. The plantation of natural indigo was no more a profitable business for English landlords. They decided to free the Indian sharecroppers from the 15% contract. They were to pay compensation for this freedom. The peasants saw through the trick and fraud of the landlords. Therefore, they wanted their money back.

Gandhi went to Bihar to take up the cause of poor peasants. There was a huge demonstration of thousands of peasants the very next day. The government was baffled. A commission of inquiry was constituted. Gandhi was the sole representative of the peasants. The landlords agreed to refund the money to the peasants. At last, they settled for 25%. The amount of refund was less important. The more important thing was the victory of the peasants and the victory of the Civil Disobedience in India.