PM SRI KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA , UDHAMPUR

CLASS : 9th
SUBJECT : ENGLISH

MLL-Ms. Tanishka

Lesson - The Beggar

1.During their conversation, Lushkoff reveals that Sergei's cook,
Olga, is responsible for the positive change in him. How has
Olga saved Lushkoff?

Ans. Olga is a very tough and rude woman.

She would help him, and report to the master that the work was
done, which helped hir earn half a rouble.
.
Lushkoff says, "it was the cook, Olga, who saved me. she used
to abuse him, feel sad for him, cry,
and would feel miserable
And says that Olga's words, and noble deeds set him on the right
path.

2. Has Lushkoff become a beggar by circumstances or by

choice?

Ans. Lushkoff became a beggar by choice

i) he didn’t want to work.
ii) He was a drunkard and was thrown out of the singing group
due to his drinking habits.

3. Sergei says, "I am happy that my words have taken effect."

Why does he say so? Is he right in saying this?

Ans. Sergei believes that his timely advice helped Lushkoff

. He may be right because he was not aware of the fact that it
was Olga who was chopping the wood for Lushkoff.
But he was not right in saying so because he had not shown any
compassion towards Lushkoff.

Lesson- A house is not a home

4. What is the meaning of "My cat was back and so was I"? Has
the author gone anywhere? Why does he say that he is also
back?
Ans. As the author sat with his the cat,
He felt grateful for his life, his friends, and the kindness of the
lady, who rescued his cat.
.He had not gone anywhere physically, but mentally had got lost
in a lonely world. With the arrival of his cat, he feels that he was
also back

5. Who provided immediate financial help to the author and her

mother? Why?

Ans.Having lost all proof of identity

the author's mother could not go and withdraw money from the
bank.
So in this state, it was his grandparents who helped them
financially, emotionally, and physically
.
Lesson - The last leaf
6.
What is Johnsy's illness? What can cure her, the medicine or the
willingness to live?

Ans. Johnsy was suffering from pneumonia. The doctor said that
she will not get cured by the medicines , if she gives up hope of
recovering.

7. Behrman has a dream? What is it?Does it come true?

Ans. Behrman always dreamt of creating a masterpiece.
Behrman's dream came true because the leaf he had painted onto
the tree, 'the last leaf, which helped save her life.
It looked so original to Johnsy that the hope to live and survive
revives within her.
Lesson- The happy Prince

8. Why do the courtiers call the prince, "The Happy Prince"? Is

he really happy? What does he see all around him?

Ans. As a live human being, When he lived in a beautiful

palace, the Prince did not know
or feel the emotion "sorrow" because it was not allowed to enter
"The Walls of the Palace'.
He would always be happy, therefore, the courtiers called him
"The Happy Prince". He lived and died happily.
But now the prince is very unhappy because he can see all the
misery that is present in his city.
9. What are the precious things mentioned in the story? Why are
they precious?

Ans. God told the angel to bring back two precious things from
the city.
The angel came back with the leaden heart of the prince and the
body of the dead bird.
They were precious because the prince's leaden heart had broken
and the little bird had lost his life in the name of service to
mankind.

Lesson - In the kingdom of fools

10. Why did the disciple not want to leave the kingdom of fools?
Ans. The disciple did not want to leave the kingdom of fools
because enjoyed good and cheap food for a low price. A
measure of rice and a bunch of bananas, both came for a duddu
each.

11.What are the two strange things the guru and his disciple find
in the Kingdom of Fools.

Ans. The two strange things, the guru and his disciple found in
the Kingdom of Fools
i) the king had ordered to change night into day and day into
night. So the people there work at night and sleep during the
day.
ii)Everything in the kingdom had a fixed cost, a single duddu.

Lesson - Iswaran the Storyteller

12. What kind of a life did Mahendra lead?

Ans. Mahendra was a bachelor, who led a very simple life and
had no problem in adjusting to the varying conditions that he
had required to face in his job. The only constant feature in his
life was his cook, who stayed with him in every condition.

13. What did Iswaran do after Mahendra had left for office?
Ans. When Mahendra had left for the office, Iswaran would do
his work , take a bath . While bathing he would mutter a prayer
After lunch, he would read Tamil thrillers and narrate stories to
Mahendra later at night.
14. Why was Iswaran called Mahendra’s asset?
Ans. He was called an asset because of his complete dedication
and devotion to his master.
He followed Mahendra uncomplainingly.
He cooked delicious food even at the remotest place.
He would wash his clothes and narrate stories to him.

15. . What did Iswaran tell his master on the night of the full
moon?
Ans
. He reported having seen remains of human skulls and bones.
He also says that he has seen ghosts during the night time on
several occasions. He claims to have seen a female ghost
holding the skull of a fetus in her hands.

Ch- The adventures of Toto

16. How does ToTo come to Grandfather’s private zoo?

Ans. The author's grandfather bought Toto from a tonga-driver

for five rupees. He used to keep it tied on to a feeding trough.
Grandfather felt that the monkey looked uncomfortable and out
of place, and therefore, decided to take him to his private zoo.

17. Toto was a pretty monkey." In what sense is Toto pretty?

Ans. Toto had bright eyes,beneath deep set eyebrows, pearly

white teeth with which he smiled very often and a tail that added
to his good looks. His hands had dried up due to exposure to the
sun.He used to hang and scoop up any delicious food that his
hands could not reach with his tail. The mischief and behaviour
of Toto is what made him pretty.
Lesson- The lost Child

18. 1. What are the things the child sees on his way to the fair?
Why does he lag behind?
Ans. On his way to the fair, the child sees toys, a host of
dragonflies and as he walks along
with his parents, he sees petals of flowers. He is later distracted
by doves, and goes skipping around the banyan tree in search of
them. He, being a small child, lags behind as he is attracted to
what he sees.

19.
Why does the lost child lose interest in the things that he had
wanted earlier?
Ans. The little child loses interest in everything around him
because he wanted to be with his family, who he had left behind
somewhere in the crowded fair.

20. How has the lost child’s anxiety and insecurity been
described?
Ans. His anxiety has been described through his reaction to his
realisation that he was lost.
Tears rolled down his cheeks , his throat became dry, his face
flushed with fear and ran here and there in panic.

21. What were the things which fascinated the child as he

entered the fair?

Ans. As the child entered the fair, he was fascinated by the

garlands of gulmohar, a balloon seller, snake- charmer's
sweetmeat seller selling burfi, the flower seller selling
enchanting music and people riding on the roundabout.
Poem- A slumber Did my spirit seal
22.
. Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions
that follow.
“A slumber did my spirit seal-
I had no human fears.
She seemed like a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.”

22. Complete the sentence appropriately.

The poetic device used in line 1 of the extract is
(a) personification
(b) simile
(c) alliteration
(d) assonance
Ans.Alliteration
23. What does the phrase 'I had no human fears' indicate?

Ans. It indicates that the poet had become numb in his grief and
did not acknowledge or worry about things that most humans
do.
24. The phrase 'the touch of earthly years' means
(a) active and living
(b) life on Earth
(c) the touch of beauty of the Earth
(d) None of the above
(iv)
Ans.
(a) active and living
25. What is the beloved deprived of?
Ans. The poet’s loved one is deprived of senses, life and all
human qualities.
Poem- On killing a tree

26.Explain “Earth’s diurnal course”

Ans. Earth’s diurnal course refers to the daily rotation of the
Earth on its axis which causes day and night . This is a universal
phenomenon which never stops.

27. Why does it take so much time to kill a tree?

Ans. A tree will take much time to be killed because it has got
strength till its roots are safe under the Earth and simple blows
from any tool won’t do any harm to it
.
28.How is the tree killed finally?
Ans. When the strength of a tree, that is its roots are exposed to
its surroundings. It starts decaying .
A continuous exposure to sunlight and air will harden it. It will
dry up and choke to finally kill a tree.
Poem- No men are foreign
29 "Beneath all uniforms ...". What uniforms do you think the
poet is speaking about?
30. How does the poet suggest that all people on Earth are the
same?
Ans
.29 The poet is speaking about 'uniforms' of different colours,
castes, creeds, religions and nationalities of the people.
Ans.30. The poet says that though people of different
nationalities look different from outside, we all are human
beings . We have the same body,the same needs and we use the
same resources.
Poem- A legend of the Northland
31.What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the
lady’s reaction?

Ans. Saint Peter asked the old lady for one of her baked cakes to
satisfy hunger as he had been fasting all day.
The lady baked three cakes in succession , each smaller than the
others, but did not give any of them.

32.What is a legend ? Why is this poem called a legend?

Ans. A legend is an old traditional story,usually with a moral.
It is passed from one generation to another generation. This
poem is a legend because it shows generosity towards fellow
beings.

33. How did Saint Peter punish her?

Ans. He punished her by changing her into a woodpecker who
would build her nest as birds do and gather food by digging the
whole day.
lesson- The fun they had
34. What things about the book did Margie find strange?
Ans. Margie found many things about the books strange.The
pages were yellow and wrinkled.The words were not moving
and when one read it for the second time everything was the
same as earlier.

35. What kind of teachers did Margi and Tommy have? Ans
Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers in the form of a
computer. The teacher had a big black screen on which all the
lessons were flashed and questions were asked. The teacher also
had a slot where students had to Put the homework and test
papers.

36. How does Tommy describe the old kind of teachers? Answer
Tomy describes the old kind of teachers as human beings who
taught in a special building where all the kids went together.

37. Why did Margi hate school? Why did she think the old kind
of school must have been fun?

Ans. Margie hated her school because it had a mechanical

teacher. She had to sit alone in front of the large screen every
day to learn. It kept on giving tests to Margie in geography even
when she was performing poorly in them.
Margie thought that the old schools must have been fun because
in the old schools, all the kids from the whole neighbourhood
went to the schools laughing and shouting. They sat together in
the classroom and went home together. At the end of the day
they learn the same things so they could help one another in
their homework.
Lesson- The sound of music

38. Who helped Evelyn to continue with music? What did he do

and say?
Ans.
Ron Forbes helped Evelyn to continue with music. To teach
Evelyn, he began by tuning two large drums to different notes.
He told Evelyn not to listen through her ears, but to try to sense
the sound through different parts of her body.

39. Where was the Shehnai traditionally played? How did

Bismillah Khan change this?
Ans. The Shehnai voice is traditionally played in Royal courts,
temples and weddings. Bismillah Khan changed this tradition by
bringing the instrument onto the classical stage.

40. How did Shehnai get its name?

Ans. It was played for the first time in King’s Court by a Barber.
Ch- The little Girl

41. Kezia‘s efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing

him very much. How did this happen?
Ans. Kezia’s grandmother suggested her to make a pin cushion
as a birthday gift for her father.
Kezia made the cushion by stitching the three sides but she
could not find anything to fill it with. She found some papers
and tore them into pieces and fill the cushion with them.
She did not know that those papers were her father’s speech that
was to be delivered the next day. Her father was very angry
when he came to know that Kezia had torn up his speech.
He punished her by hitting her palms.

42. Why does Kezia stammer only with her father?

Ans Kezia stammered only with father because she was afraid of
her father and felt nervous in front of M. She tried very hard to
say the words properly.

Ch- A truly beautiful mind

43. Why did young Einstein‘s playmates call him ‘brother
boring’?
Ans. Einstein‘s playmates called him ‘brother boring’ because
Einstein was not interested in the usual games of their age,
therefore he could not play with his playmates.

Ch- The snake and the mirror

44. What’s two important and earth shaking decisions did the
doctor take while he was looking into the mirror?
Ans The first important and earth shaking decision taken by the
doctor was to shave daily and grow thin moustache to look
handsome.
The second decision was to always keep an attractive smile on
his face in order to look more handsome.

45.
What made the doctor think “death lurked four inches away”?
Ans The doctor thought that death lurked four inches away
because the snake had coiled around his left arm and its head
was hardly four inches away from his face. The snake could bite
him at any moment and he would surely die if it bit him.

46. What happened in Abdul‘s school when a new teacher asked

Abdul to sit at the back of the class? What values was the
teacher lacking?

Ans. Abdul sat in the front row in the class when he was
studying in fifth standard at Rameswaram elementary school
his close friend, Ramanathan Sastry used to sit next to him.
One day a new teacher came to the class and ordered Abdul to
sit on the back bench.
After school, both boys informed their families. Lakshmana
Shastri called the teacher and scolded the teacher for spreading
the thoughts of social inequality in the minds of innocent
children.
The teacher lacked the value of considering all humans equal.

47. Why did Santosh‘s parents agree to pay for her schooling in
Delhi? What mental qualities of Santosh are brought into light
by this incident?
Ans Santosh’s parents agreed to pay for her education when she
informed them that she would earn money by working part-time
and pay her school fees.
This shows that Santosh was determined and a strong- willed
girl who would do anything to achieve her goal.

48. Compare and contrast the atmosphere in and around

Baudhna with Pashupatinath Temple.
Ans. Pashupatinath temple was noisy and confusing, the
atmosphere around Baudhnath Stupa was quiet and peaceful.
At Pashupatinath Temple there was a large crowd rushing
towards the entrance of the temple people were pushing each
other to get priest’s attention
In contrast, Baudhnath Stupa was completely quiet and there
was no crowd around it.

49. The intruder has done some research on Gerard. Do you

agree with the statement? Justify.
Ans. The intruder had done a lot of rich research on Gerard this
is why he knew a lot of things about him.
He knew Gerard’s eating habits, his travelling habits, his loner
lifestyle and even knew that people thought Gerard to be a
strange and mysterious man.

50. How did Gerard convince the intruder that he was not lying?
Ans.Gerard told the intruder that he was also a criminal and
convinced him by showing him his disguise outfits Including
moustache.
He also told him that his bag was packed and he was expecting
trouble.