Kerala Syllabus SAMAGRA SCERT SAMAGRA Question Pool for Class 10 English Medium English Adventures in a Banyan Tree (Short Story)
Read the extract from the story, ’Adventures in a Banyan Tree’ and answer the following questions.
Though the house and grounds of our home in India were Grandfather's domain, the magnificent old banyan tree was mine-chiefly because Grandfather, at the age of sixty-five, could no longer climb it. Grandmother used to tease him about this, and would speak of a certain Countess of Desmond, an English woman who lived to the age of 117, and would have lived longer if she hadn't fallen while climbing an apple tree. The spreading branches of the banyan tree, which curved to the ground and took root again, forming a maze of arches, gave me endless pleasure. The tree was older than the house, older than Grandfather, as old as the town of Dehra, nestling in a valley at the foot of the Himalayas.
My first friend and familiar was a small grey squirrel. Arching his back and sniffing into the air, he seemed at first to resent my invasion of his privacy. But, when he found that I did not arm myself with a catapult or air-gun, he became friendlier. And, when I started leaving him pieces of cake and biscuit, he grew bolder, and finally became familiar enough to take food from my hands.
1. Where did the boy like to spend most of his time?
2. What gave the boy endless pleasure?
3. What picture of the banyan tree do you get from this passage?
4. Who was the boy’s first friend?
5. Why was the squirrel not happy with the boy at first ?
6. How did the author try to make friend with the squirrel?
7. Identify the word from the passage which means ‘dislike’.
8. "The house and grounds of our home in India were grandfather’s domain". Identify the noun phrase and the verb phrase in the sentence.
1. On the magnificent old banyan tree.
2. The spreading branches of the banyan tree which
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Read the extract from the story, ’Adventures in a Banyan Tree’ and answer the following questions.
Before long he was delving into my pockets and helping himself to whatever he could find. He was a very young squirrel, and his friends and relatives probably thought him headstrong and foolish for trusting a human. In the spring, when the banyan tree was full of small red figs, birds of all kinds would flock into its branches, the red-bottomed bulbul, cheerful and greedy; gossiping rosy pastors; and parrots and crows, squabbling with each other all the time. During the fig season, the banyan tree was the noisiest place on the road.
Halfway up the tree I had built a small platform on which I would often spend the afternoons when it wasn't too hot. I could read there, propping myself up against the bole of the tree with cushions taken from the drawing room. Treasure Island, Huckleberry Finn, The Mowgli stories, and the Novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Louisa May Alcott made up my bag of very mixed reading.
1. Why does the boy say that the banyan tree was the noisiest place on the road during the fig season?
2. Name the birds that would flock into the banyan tree during the fig season.
3. Where would the boy like to spend his afternoons?
4. Pick out the word from the passage which means 'a minor fight or argument’.
5. Name some of the books that made up the boy’s bag of mixed reading.
1. During the fig season birds of all kinds would flock into the branches of the banyan tree and they all would squabble with each
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Read the extract from the story, ’Adventures in a Banyan Tree’ and answer the following questions.
That was the time I saw a mongoose and a cobra fight to death in the garden, while I sat directly above them in the banyan tree. It was an April afternoon. And the warm breezes of approaching summer had sent everyone, including Grandfather, indoors. I was feeling drowsy myself and was wondering if I should go to the pond behind the house for a swim, when I saw a huge black cobra gliding out of a clump of cactus and making for some cooler part of the garden. At the same time a mongoose (whom I had often seen) emerged from the bushes and went straight for the cobra. In a clearing beneath the tree, in bright sunshine, they came face to face. Cobra knew only too well that the grey mongoose, three feet long, was a superb fighter, clever and aggressive. But the cobra was skillful and experienced fighter too. He could move swiftly and strike with the speed of light, and the sacs behind his long, sharp fangs were full of deadly venom. It was to be a battle of champions. Hissing defiance, his forked tongue darting in and out, the cobra raised three of his six feet off the ground, and spread his broad, spectacled hood. The mongoose bushed his tail. The long hair on his spine stood up (in the past, the very thickness of his hair had saved him from bites that would have been fatal to others).
1. Why did the boy feel like going to the pond?
2. Pick out the sentences which tell us that both the cobra and the mongoose are skillful fighters.
3. Identify the word used for describing the snake’s tongue.
4. 'The cobra was skillful and experienced fighter too.' -- Identify the Noun phrase and the Verb phrase in the sentence.
1. The boy was feeling drowsy and so he felt like going to the pond for a swim.
2. Mongoose, three
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Read the extract from the story, ’Adventures in a Banyan Tree’ and answer the following questions.
The cobra was weakening, and the mongoose, walking fearlessly up to it, raised himself on his short legs, and with lightning snap had the big snake by the snout. The cobra writhed and lashed about in a frightening manner, and even coiled itself about the mongoose, but all to no avail. The little fellow hung grimly on, until the snake had ceased to struggle. He then smelt along its quivering length, and gripping it round the hood, dragged it into the bushes. The myna dropped cautiously to the ground, hopped about, peered into the bushes from a safe distance, and then, with a shrill cry of congratulation, flew away.
When I had also made a cautious descent from the tree and returned to the house, I told Grandfather of the fight I had seen. He was pleased that the mongoose had won. He had encouraged it to live in the garden, to keep away the snakes, and fed it regularly with scraps from the kitchen. He had never tried taming it, because wild mongoose was more useful than a domesticated one.
1. Identify the sentence which tells us that myna enjoyed the victory of mongoose.
2. Why did grandfather feel that wild mongoose is more useful than a domesticated one?
3. What did grandfather feed the mongoose with ?
4. Why did grandfather encourage the mongoose to live in the garden?
1. Myna gave a shrill cry of congratulation and then flew away.
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Read the extract from the story, ’Adventures in a Banyan Tree’ and answer the following questions.
The banyan tree was also the setting for what we were to call the Strange Case of the Grey Squirrel and the White Rat. The white rat was Grandfather's - he had bought it from the bazaar for four annas - but I would often take It with me into the roots and branches of the old Banyan tree, where it soon struck up a friendship with one of the squirrels. They would go off together on little excursions among the branches.
Then the squirrel started building a nest. At first she tried building it in my pockets, and when I went indoors and changed my clothes I would find straw and grass falling out. Then one day Grandmother's knitting was missing. We hunted for it everywhere but without success. Next day I saw something glinting in the hole in the banyan tree. Going up to investigate, I saw that it was the end of Grandmother's steel knitting-needle. On looking further, I discovered that the hole was crammed with knitting. And amongst the wool were three baby squirrels all of them white!
Grandfather had never seen white squirrels before, and we gazed at them in wonder. We were puzzled for sometime, but when I mentioned the white rat's frequent visits to the tree, Grandfather told me that the rat must be the father. Rats and squirrels were related to each other, he said, and so it was quite possible for them to have offspring--in this case, white squirrels!
1. Where did grandfather buy the white rat from?
2. ‘They would go off, together on little excursions among the branches.’ Who does ‘they’ refer to?
3. Where did the boy find the grandmother’s knitting?
4. Why were the boy and the grandfather puzzled?
5. 'I discovered that the hole was crammed with knitting.'
Identify the prepositional phrase in this sentence.
1. From the bazaar .
2.
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The story 'Adventures in a Banyan Tree' highlights the joy of living in harmony with nature. Prepare a review of the story.
Gives a suitable title.
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Prepare a Profile of the prolific writer Ruskin Bond with the help of the hints given below. Use linkers wherever necessary.
Born : May 19,1934,Kasauli
Nationality : Indian
Famous as : Writer
First Novel : The Room on the Roof (Bagged John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957)
Accolades : Sahitya Academy Award (1992)
Padma Shri Award (1999)
Padma Bhushan (2014)
Lifetime Achievement Award (2017)
Gives an appropriate title.
Writes an effective introduction and
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The boy in the story writes a letter to his friend about the incident that led him to discover the three white baby squirrels. Prepare the likely letter.
Relevant to the context
Uses language suitable for a informal
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Living in harmony with nature is very essential to nourish our soul. In the light of the reading of the story, ’Adventures in a Banyan Tree' prepare a write up.
Gives a suitable title.
Begins with a striking
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The English club of your school is planning a screening session for casting the actors for an upcoming film based on the story ‘Adventures in a Banyan Tree.’ Prepare a notice informing the students about the screening.
Gives a suitable title.
Begins with a striking
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The boy in the story ’Adventures in a Banyan Tree’ was enthralled to see the white baby squirrels. He shares his excitement with his grandfather. Write the likely conversation.
Identifies the relationship between the people engaged in the conversation.
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The squirrel in the story 'Adventures in a Bunyan Tree' became friendly with the boy. His parents and relatives were panic to see him trusting a human. His mother warns him about the friendship. What would be their conversation?
Hint.
Identifies
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Prepare three slogans highlighting the need for preserving nature.
Any relevant
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The boy in the story ‘Adventures in a Banyan Tree’ loves to live in harmony with nature. Prepare the character sketch of the boy.
Describes the character's personality.
Describes the character's
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Do you think reading is one of the habits that we need to develop? Write a short paragraph on the advantages of reading.
Begins with a striking idea.
Ideas
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