CLASS TEST- 9

1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that
follow:

1. Food, clothing and shelter are the basic human needs. However,
there are many who barely manage to acquire the first two
necessities but the third remains beyond their reach. A large
section of the population therefore lives and sleeps at public
places, like roads, pavements and streets under unhygienic
conditions and is categorized as the ‘homeless population’.

2. Homelessness is a growing phenomenon worldwide and is a major
challenge faced by India today. People from rural areas are
moving to the cities and towns to find employment, or to escape
calamities like floods, famine and drought.

3. Rural poverty is the most fundamental reason for the great
migration to the city. The poor people are not in a position to pay
for housing, food, child care, health care, and education. The vast
majority of these men and women are farmers and farm labourers
who in their villages lack resources and opportunities for an
economically active life.

4. The deinstitutionalizing of the patients with mental problems and
disability, drugs and alcohol abuse, lack of skills stemming from a
lack of education with which to find an adequate job also
contribute to the homeless population. The most vulnerable
sections experiencing homelessness are the women, children and
the aged, as an outcome of death of a male adult earning member
and sometimes due to domestic violence.

5. Hence, homeless persons are heterogeneous in terms of their age- group, gender, livelihoods, place of origin and the reasons for living in the street. Homelessness is more than ‘rooflessness’. A
home provides roots, identity, and a sense of belonging and a place of emotional wellbeing. Homelessness is about the loss of all of these. It is an isolating and destructive experience and homeless people are some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded in
our society.

6. Most of the homeless are not beggars but many of them are engaged as casual wage labourers, construction labourers, shoe- shiners, rag-pickers and as domestic help.

7. In spite of the gravity of the problem and our limited resources,
providing shelter to the homeless is not an unsurmountable
problem, it is a ‘manageable challenge’. You can give hope and
opportunity to people and help them have a home of their own.

1.1 Answer the following questions.                                                            2×4=8

(i) What is the main reason for people migrating from rural areas to
cities?
People from rural areas are moving to the cities and towns to
find employment, or to escape calamities like floods, famine and
drought.

(ii) What are the other reasons for ‘homelessness?
The deinstitutionalizing of the patients with mental problems and disability,drugs and alcohol abuse, lack of skills stemming from a lack of education with which to find an adequate job, death of male adult earning member and sometimes due to domestic violence.

(iii) In what way are the homeless persons ‘heterogenous’?
Homeless persons are heterogeneous in terms of their age- group, gender, livelihoods, place of origin and the reasons for living on the street.

(iv) What kind of jobs are most of the homeless engaged in?
Most of the homeless are engaged as casual wage labourers,
construction labourers, shoe-shiners, rag-pickers and as domestic
help and some as beggars.

1.2 Find meanings of the words given below with the help of the options
that follow:                                                                                            1×4=4

(a) calamities (paragraph 2)

(i) events causing damage and
suffering
(ii) instruments that help in
calculations
(iii) instruments that help in
measurements
(iv) events causing progress


(b) stemming (paragraph 4)

(i) affected by
(ii) residing in
(iii) caused by
(iv) engaged in


(c) vulnerable (paragraph 4)

(i) unnoticed
(ii) helpless
(iii) ignored
(iv) wanted


(d) gravity (paragraph 7)

(i) weight
(ii) size
(iii) attraction
(v) seriousness

Section B: Grammar

2 Fill in the following blanks choosing the most appropriate optionfrom the ones given below. Write the answers in your answersheet against the correct blank numbers.                                             1×4=4

The resort is built on top of the mountain, 10,000 feet (a) _______ sea
level. There are several tall trees (b) ______ the complex. The weather is
pleasant even (c) ______ the month of May. The resort offers a
panoramic view of the valley which attracts tourists (d) _____ all over
the world.

a.(i) along
(ii) above
(iii) across
(iv) after

b.(i) among
(ii) between
(iii) around
(iv) before

c.(i) since
(ii) near
(iii) beyond
(iv) during


d. (i) from
(ii) under
(iii) below
(iv) with

3 The following paragraph has not been edited. There is one error
in each line. Write the error and its correction as shown in the
example.                                                                                    1×4=4

                                                                                                       Error          Correction
We were tired on cycling in the hot sun and hungry            e.g.     on                  of
so we rested underneath a tree. We had been on the            (a)  underneath      under
road from 5 in the morning. We hoped to reach our            (b)     from               since
destination in 6 pm. We ate a simple lunch at a small         (c)       in                  at
eatery of the roadside.                                                          (d)      of                   by 

4 Rearrange the words and phrases given below to form
meaningful sentences.                                                1×4=4                                                        

(a) I / every year / holiday / go / a / to/ a / on / different place
I go on a holiday to a different place every year.

(b) meet / to see / different places / because / I travel / I love / and /
different people
I travel because I love to see different places and meet different
people.

(c) me / the sense / it gives / of freedom / enjoy / I
I enjoy the sense of freedom it gives me.

(d) me / to forget / sometime / It / pleases / my duties / and /
responsibilities / for
It pleases me to forget my duties and responsibilities for some
time.

Section C: Literature

5. Read the given extract and answer the following question. 1×4=4

(a) No motion has she now, no force-
She neither hears nor sees,
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks and stones and trees
(i) Who is referred to as ‘she’ in the above stanza?
‘She’ refers to the poet’s loved one.
(ii) Where is she now?
She lives with the rocks, stones and trees, rolled around in the
earth’s daily course.
(iii) Why can’t she hear or see?
She cannot see or see because she has become immortal, an
inseparable part of the earth.
(iv) Give the synonym of ‘diurnal’.
daily

6. Answer the following questions in 30-40 words.              2×2=4

(a) What is referred to as ‘slumber’? What did the slumber do to the
poet?
Deep sleep is referred to as slumber. The slumber sealed the poet’s spirit. He could not feel any human fear.

(b) How did Sergei recognise the beggar?
The beggar’s face appeared familiar to Sergei. When his eyes fell
on the beggar’s shoes, one shoe was high and the other was low,
then, he remembered clearly that he had seen the beggar the day
before in Sadovya Street.

7. Answer the following question in 100-150 words.                      8×2=16

(a) How does the poet react to his loved one’s death?
The poet’s reaction to his loved one’s death is not of bitter grief
that he could shed out in the form of tears. On her death, he did
not experience any human fears. He just looked at her and
wondered how she looked and what she would experience later.
Therefore, it is difficult to say whether he is experiencing bitter
grief or is in a peaceful state of mind. He pays a warm tribute to
her. He calls her immortal where time has no effect on her. She is
one with nature, part of the earth’s diurnal motion.

(b) Sergei’s sympathy was as important as Olga’s noble deeds in
reforming Lushkoff. Discuss.
Lushkoff gave the credit of his reformation to Olga but it is true
that Sergei’s sympathy towards him was also important. If Sergei
had not taken the initiative to assign work to Lushkoff and had
instead handed him over to the police, the beggar’s life would
have ended in a disaster. Sergei, like Olga, went out of his way to
uplift the ragged beggar by making him do odd jobs and paying
him in return. Sergei was not obliged in any way to spend money
on a beggar in this manner but it was his concern for Lushkoff
that he made sincere efforts to reform him. Sergei also arranged
a ‘cleaner employment’ of a copier for Lushkoff by sending him
to his friend with a letter of recommendation. Again, it was
Sergei who brought Lushkoff to Olga. If this had not been done,
Olga would not have been able to help him. Hence, the
contribution of Sergei in the reformation of Lushkoff was as
important as that of Olga.