THE SUMMIT WITHIN- extra questions & answers CLASS 8

Q1) What are the three qualities that played a major role in the author’s climb?

Ans1) The three qualities that played a major role in the author’s climb endurance, persistence and will power..

Q2) Why is adventure, which is risky, also pleasurable?

Ans2) People have natural urge for undertaking adventurous activity. They possess an internal love for adventure which is spiritual also. Climbing is also one such activity. It gives the climber many challenges to win over. A true climber accepts all hurdles. Victory over them gives him joy and satisfaction. It encourages him to take risk and go on.

Q3) What was it about Mount Everest that the author found irrestible?

Ans3 The peak of Mount Everest attracted the authr to itself because it is simply beautiful, lonely and the most powerful. So, its climbing could not be given up.

Q4) One does not do climbing for the fame alone. What does one do it for, really?

Ans4) One does not climb high peak for becoming famous alone. People have natural urge for undertaking adventurous activity. There is the feeling of satisfaction of this deep urge in completing difficult climbing. Climbing experience is physical, emotional and spiritual. It is an act of communication with God Almighty.

Q5) What were the ‘symbols of reverence’ left by members of the team of Everest?

Ans5) The symbols of reverence offered by the members of climbing expedition on the top of Everest were as follows.

1)      A picture of Guru Nanak left by H.P.S .Ahluwalia.

2)      A picture of Goddess Durga left by Mr. Rawat.

3)      A relic of Buddha left by Phu Dorji, and.

4)      A cross left by Edmund Hillary.

Q6) What, according to the writer, did his experience as an Everester teach him?

Ans6) According to the writer his experience as an Everester taught how to face the difficulties with strong determination. It also taught him to look within at the internal summit which is higher than the Everest.

Wars Should Be Avoided At all Costs_ an article

               


George Washington once said, “My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from earth." War is the march of hell on the surface of earth, and it leaves in its wake, corpses, ruins, rubble, families destroyed, and regret for having invited this monster from hell. Wars can never end conflicts, they complicate it further.





World War 1 and World War 2 are the two ugliest scars on the face of mankind. They wreaked so much havoc that its precedent is impossible to find since the beginning of evolution. Wars are futile and outcome of man’s ignorance and anger. The people of the world must learn a lesson from these two holocausts.



All the wars that were fought in the history of mankind taught man the horrible lessons of its futility. The most heinous and horrible war in the entire history of mankind is the Second World War. The dates August 6, 1945, and August 9, 1945 are written indelibly on the pages of history with blood of thousands of people who died a painful death in the nuclear bomb attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Hiroshima bomb killed approximately 1,40,000 people instantaneously; Nagasaki underwent almost the same nightmare.





 Seeing the enormity of death and destruction, the entire world condemned the use of nuclear bombs. Even those who were in favour of its use in war, felt remorseful. The most frightening aspect related to nuclear bombs is, the world is full of them. Bombs many times more potent than the ones used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are lying ready in the arsenals of many country.



Even in the modern times, the consequences and fallout of wars in countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, millions of people have been affected. The cities in these countries that used to be full of life and echoes of happy children and are deserted with destroyed houses, shops, and complexes. One feels miserable seeing such a huge destruction. The world is in a precarious position. Another large scale war involving two or three nations might end very life of man! When will man become wiser and renounce war forever? May be soon!



   In conclusion it can be said that wars are symbolic of savage backwardness. Civilized people resolve their conflicts through peaceful dialogue at the discussion table. So, wars must be avoided at all costs.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree-William Butler Yeats

The Lake Isle of  Innisfree-William Butler Yeats

1.      What does the poet find so attractive about the Leake Lake Isle of  Innisfree?

Ans : The thing that the poet finds so attractive about Lake Isle of Innisfree is its promise of peace.The poet longs for this place which affords a sense of contentment and relaxation far from the busy modem life. The poem’s slow and regular meter helps to convey this languid, dreamy effect. There is also the vivid impressionistic description of the colours and beauties of this place, and the soothing stir of nature which is so different from the strident noise of the city where the poet actually is, as the final stanza makes clear.The poet, then, is physically trapped in the city, but he can imagine the beauty of Innisfree and this gives him spiritual sustenance. This is one of Yeats’s early lyrics, exhibiting a familiar romantic sensibility in its praise of the deep purity and beauty of nature which is contrasted with the drabness, shallowness and sterility of modem urban living

2.      What words does the poet use to describe how calmness and tranquility will come to Innsifree?

Ans: The poet declares that he will arise and go to Innisfree, where he will build a small cabin “of clay and wattles made.” There, he will have nine bean-rows and a beehive, and live alone in the glade loud with the sound of bees (“the bee-loud glade”). He says that he will have peace there, for peace drops from “the veils of morning to where the cricket sings.”

3.      How does the poet describe midnight, noon and evening?

Ans: Apparently, in Innisfree, midnight is shimmering and beautiful and midday is a purple glow—this is starting to sound a little fairy-tale gorgeous. Saying that the evening is full of linnet's wings makes us think not only of one bird, but also of all of them in flight.

The imagery is getting almost dreamlike—purple, hazy, full of birds in flight. 

4.      What is so special about the sound produced by the following line?

Ans : He can hear the lapping of the water on Innisfree in his mind or something.Thats because he's not really hearing the water, we should think of this auditory image as a metaphor for his strong desire to head to Innisfree. We think it's safe to say that he imagines the sounds because he's so absorbed in his desire to get to this ideal place.

5.      What sound is the poet looking forward to hear in Innisfree?

Ans: The speaker wants to be surrounded by the sounds of nature. "Glade" is an open space in a forest. Living in that clearing with only the birds chirping and bees buzzing seems pretty awesome to him. More soothing sounds of nature. Here Yeats writes about the peaceful sounds of the cricket. That's definitely something we don't get in the city.

THE SNAKE AND THE MIRROR

Q1) Describe the house where the doctor lived?

Ans1) The doctor lived in a small house. It was not electrified. It had only few things. The roof was tiled. Tiles were rested on the beam over the wall. The room had two windows with one wall facing the open yard.

Q2) What happened when doctor was sitting on his chair?

Ans2) One day the doctor was sitting in the chair and was thinking about his future. Suddenly a snake landed on his shoulder. It coiled around his left arm above the elbow. Its hood was spread and its head was just three or four inches away from the his face.

Q3) What was the doctor’s choice of woman for his marriage?

Ans3) Doctor thought about marrying a rich fat woman. So that, if he committed any silly mistake and wanted to run away she might not be able to run after him and catch him.

Q4) In the story “The snake and the Mirror” the snake has been compared to three objects. What are they?

Ans4) The snake is compared to three objects 1) a rubber tube. 2) a thick leaden rod, 3) a rod made of molten fire. The writer compares it with rubber tube because it falls with thud. It is compared to leaden rod because it looks like a rod. It is compared to rod made of molten fire it caused that sensation and burning in his arm and the whole body.

Q5) What two important decisions did the doctor take?

Ans5) The first important decision taken by doctor was that he would grow a thin moustache and keep an attractive smile on his face. So that he would look more handsome. Secondly he would marry a fat but rich woman doctor.

Q6) Why did the writer smile when death lurked four inches away?

Ans6) A snake coiled around doctor’s arm and death lurked four inches away. At that moment writer thought what medicine he would take if snake bite him. There was no medicine in the room. The narrator was a poor, foolish and stupid doctor. His thinking suddenly changed. He forgot his danger and smile feebly.

Q7) What was the similarity between the doctor and the snake?

Ans7) There was similarity between the doctor and the snake. Both of them were admirer of their own beauty. The doctor remained in his imagination. The snake was attracted towards the mirror. Both were carried by their beauty.

Class 11 A Photograph - Shirley Toulson

1) What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word beenused?


Ans: The cardboard means a very stiff and thick paper, here the cardboard is a part of the frame that keeps the photograph intact. It's use in poem is ironical  It keeps the photograph of that 12 year old girl safe who herself was terribly transient  The player's mother had died some years ago.

2) What has the camera captured?
Ans: The camera had captured all the three girls alive in it. It has captured the pretty face of the poet's mother who as a girl of twelve at that time. It has also captured the smiling faces of the two girl cousins Betty and Dolly. They are holding the hands of the poet's mother.

3) What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
Ans: The sea has not changed over the years. It rings out the transient nature and its object. Time spares none. The pretty faces and the feet of the three girls are terribly transient or moral when compared to the ageless and unchangeable sea. 

4) The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Ans: The poet's mother laughs at the snapshot which was taken years ago. In the photograph, she as well as her two little cousins stood at the each. She laughed at the ay all of them were dressed up for the beach. Perhaps they looked funny. Their laughter indicated the youthful spirit.

5) What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease or loss”
Ans: Both the mother and the poet suffered a great sense of loss. The mother has lost her childhood innocence and joyful spirit that the photograph has captured some years ago. For the poet, the smile of her mother has become thing of the past. She has silently resigned to her faith. Ironically both labour to bear their loss with ease. 


6) What does "this circumstance" refer to?
Ans: The circumstance refers to the death of the poet's mother. The photograph of her dead mother brings sad nostalgic feelings in the past. But the poet has nothing to say at all about the circumstance. The silence of the poet makes the silence prevailing their still deeper.

7) The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?
Ans: In the first stanza, the poet's mother is shown as a twelve yearold girl with pretty smiling face. Then she is paddling with her two girl cousins. This face is before the poet's birth. The second face describes the middle aged mother laughing at her own snapshot. The third face describes the chilling pale of silence that the death of her mother has left of the past.