Question

Q1. Read the following passage carefully. My grandmother’s house is like a chambered sea shell. It has many rooms, yet it is not a mansion. Its proportions are small and its designs are simple. It is a house that has grown organically, according to the needs of its inhabitants. To all of us in the family, it is known as the la casa de Mama. It is the place of our origin, the stage of our memories and dreams of Island life. I remember how in my childhood it sat on stilts, this was before it had a car park downstairs it rested on its perch like a great blue bird-not a flying sort of bird, more like a nesting hen, but with spread wings. Grandfather had built it soon after their marriage. He was a painter and house-builder by trade, a poet and meditative man by nature. As each of their eight children was born, new rooms were added. After a few years, the paint didn’t exactly match, nor the materials, so there was a chronology to it, like the rings of a tree, and Mama could tell you the history of each room in her casa, and thus, the genealogy of the family along with it. Her own room is the heart of the house. Though I have seen it recently, both the woman and room have diminished in size, changed by the new perspective of my eyes, now capable of looking over countertops and tall beds. It is not this picture I carry in my memory of Mama’s casa. Instead, I see her room as a queen’s chamber where a small woman loomed large, a throne room ‘with a massive four poster bed in its center, which stood that the smallest grandchildren were allowed to take naps in the afternoons, here too was where Mama secluded herself to dispense private advice to her daughters, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at whoever sat on ‘the rocker where generations of babies had been sung to sleep. To me, she looked like a wise empress right out of the fairy tales I was addicted to reading. And there was the monstrous wardrobe, she kept locked with a little golden key, she did not hide. This was a test of her dominion over us, though my cousins and I wanted a look inside that massive wardrobe more than anything, we never reached for that little key lying on top of her Bible on the dresser. This was also where she placed her earrings and rosary when she took them off at night, God’s word was her security system. This wardrobe was the place I imagined where she kept jewels, satin slippers, and elegant silk, sequined gowns of heartbreaking fineness. I lusted after those imaginary costumes. I heard that Mama had been a great beauty in her youth. My cousins had ideas as to what she kept in that wooden vault; its secret could be money Mama did not hand cash to strangers, banks were out of the question, so there were stories that her mattress was stuffed with dollar bills, and that she buried coins in jars in her garden under rose- bushes, or kept them in her untouched wardrobe; there might be that legendary gun salvaged from the Spanish American conflict over the Island. We went wild over suspected treasures that we made up simply because children have to fill locked trunks with something wonderful. On the basis of your reading of the passage given above, answer the following questions a. Grandmother’s house resembles a chambered sea shell because (1) i. its design is simple ii. of the many rings on the tree iii. it looks like the Queen’s chamber iv. it has many rooms b. Grandfather was a …………………….. by profession i.sailor ii. painter iii. poet iv. meditative c. As each of her eight children was born, new ……………….. were added. i.rooms ii. trees iii. birds iv. houses d. The key was kept on top of the ________ on Grandmother’s dresser i.clothes ii. Bible iii. Silk gown iv. Books e. The test of dominion over the children was i. The monstrous wardrobe ii. The key that was not hidden iii. Not letting the children reach the wardrobe iv. Locking the wardrobe i. The most appropriate title for the passage is ii. My Magnificent Mama iii. My Grandmother’s House iv. My childhood v. Nostalgia f. The grandmother placed her earrings and rosary in the ________after she had taken them off at night. g. Grandfather’s room was the heart of the house ( True/False)

Answer 1

Answers:

(a) Grandmother’s house resembles a chambered sea shell because

Answer: (iv) it has many rooms

(b) Grandfather was a …………………….. by profession

Answer: (ii) painter

(c) As each of her eight children was born, new ……………….. were added.

Answer: (i) rooms

(d) The key was kept on top of the ________ on Grandmother’s dresser

Answer:  (ii) Bible

(e) The test of dominion over the children was

Answer: (ii) The key that was not hidden

(f) The most appropriate title for the passage is

Answer: (v) Nostalgia

(g) The grandmother placed her earrings and rosary on top of the Bible on the dresser after she had taken them off at night.

(h) Grandfather’s room was the heart of the house: TRUE