Question

Q1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions. (2.5)

Duncan was getting ready to make another wand. His master, Meerfus, was letting him try more

and more often

these days. Duncan had been working with the famous, wand-making, magician for more than

three years now, and

he was getting to an age where he needed to be able to make some of his own wands. It was

part of the learning

process. Sadly, Duncan didn’t always succeed when he tried to make wands. Meerfus claimed it

was all in his intent.

That is, what was he thinking when he was trying to make the wand? Apparently, he had to

focus completely on the

goal at hand, and could not allow himself distractions. Distractions made for poor wands, and he

was still not able

to focus all of his thoughts on the task of making wands. He always had things he was

wondering about or things

that diverted his attention. For example, when he was making a wand that was supposed to

shoo bugs out of a

house, he was also thinking about the dairy man who was delivering milk down the road at that

moment. So,

instead of just shooing away bugs, the wand switched bugs with little puddles of milk. This was

a pretty silly result

for a wand to have, and one that smelled after a few days. Another time, Duncan’s wand to

sweep the floors ended

up making dust clouds that spun like mini tornadoes. The dust devils raged around the house,

all because he’d been

staring out the window at a swirl of leaves that had been caught up in winds against the house.

He realized he really needed to focus, or Meerfus was bound to get upset. The mini tornadoes had really

messed up Meerfus’

scrolls and papers, and it had taken nearly a week to sort them back out. Meerfus decided that

Duncan needed to

work without distraction, so they’d built a curtain that surrounded his whole work table until he

figured out how to

ignore things around him. The white sheet hung on all four sides of him as he worked now.

Meerfus always said it

was not the materials that Duncan chose that caused problems, because Duncan chose those

well. So, if it was

entirely the fault of his focus, he really had no excuses now, did he? Duncan looked at the

materials on his

worktable. He was making a fire-starting wand. The ingredients for this particular wand were

warm coals, a long

splinter of dried pine, bits of tinder, and flecks of flint and steel for creating sparks. Duncan wore

gloves and

handled the coals with care, because they were hot enough to burn. He laid out the ingredients

carefully, cleared

his mind, and spoke the words that came to mind, words that helped focus his natural magic

into the wand he was

making: “Fireus Startus Easicus.” The wand picked up a glowing red aspect, as if he’d just

blown on the coals to

heat them up. The length of the wand glittered dangerously with flint and steel chips. It seemed

as if he’d

succeeded, so he took the gloves off and went out to his waiting master with his new wand in

hand. Meerfus

grinned and nodded toward the fireplace, where a few logs sat ready to be lit. All other

flammable materials had

been moved back from the fireplace at least three or four steps. Duncan shook his wrist and

pointed the wand at

the fireplace. There was no huge explosion, there was no blast of smoke and ash, and there

were no strange side effects; just a simple, warm fire started around the logs, burning cheerfully.

“Excellent work, Duncan!” Meerfus

clapped happily. “You shall have to sell that wand and keep the money for it – minus the cost of

materials, which

was next to nothing.” Duncan grinned sheepishly. He didn’t know what to say, but it seemed sad

to sell the wand.

“Can I keep it? It is my first successful wand, after all.” Meerfus nodded. “That is fine, perhaps

better than selling it.

Make another tomorrow and sell that one instead.”

Q1: Write meanings of the words given in Column A.(2.5)

Column A

Words

1. wand

2. distraction

3. puddle

4. bound

5. grinned

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Answer 1

Answer:

1 wand -- a long, thin stick or rod.

2 distraction -- a thing that prevents someone from concentrating on something else.

3 puddle -- a small pool of liquid

4 bound -- a leaping movement towards or over something

5 grinned -- smile broadly.