Question

I.Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:

We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures

that do more harm than good. Man continuously wages war on them, for they

contaminate his food, carry diseases or devour his crops. They sting or bite without

provocation, they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat against our

lighted windows. We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps,

but of quite harmless ones like moths. Reading about them increases our understanding

without dispelling our fears. Knowing that the industrious ants live in a highly organized

society does not prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them

crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch.

No matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read of the uncanny sense of

direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears are

unreasonable, but they are difficult to erase. At the same time, however, insects are

strangely fascinating. We enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that like

the Praying Mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. We enjoy staring at them, entrance

as they go about their business, unaware -we hope – of our presence. Who has not stood

in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly

carrying home an enormous dead beetle?

Last summer, I spent many days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up

the trunk of my prized peach tree. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered
side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not only because it has survived several

severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches.
During the summer I noticed that the leaves of the tree had begun to wither. Clusters of

tiny insects called Aphids were to be found on the underside of the leaves. They were

visited by a large column of ants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I

immediately embarked on an experiment which, even though it failed to get rid of the

ants, kept me fascinated for twenty four hours. I bound the base of the tree with sticky

tape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the Aphids. The tape was so sticky that

they did not dare to cross it. For a long time, I watched them scurrying around the base

of the tree in bewilderment. I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with

satisfaction and surprise that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without

being able to do anything about it. I got up early next morning to find the ants were

climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree. I realized sadly

that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The ants had been quick to find

an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods.

1. Answer the following questions:

a) What is our attitude towards insects?

b) What did the writer do to prevent the ants from reaching the Aphids? Was it successful?

c) What was the reason that the leaves of the tree were beginning to wither in summer?

d) Describe in your own words the behaviour that we show towards insects?

e) Give an apt title to your summary and justify the choice of the title​

Answer 1

Answer:

We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures