Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow. No Crocodiles A man once went on a trip to the west coast of Africa. It was very hot weather. He put his bags into his room at the hotel and ran down to the sea to have a swim. But when he looked into the water, it seemed to him that something was moving there, and he was frightened. There was nobody near, except a boy, and the man called him. "Are there any crocodiles here?" he asked. "No, Sir, no crocodiles," the boy answered. The man took off his clothes, jumped into the water and swam for a few minutes. But though the water was warm and the weather was nice, he was still a little frightened. "That boy said there were no crocodiles, but it’s possible he doesn’t know," he thought, and he decided to swim back. When he came out of the water, the boy was still there, and the man asked him "Why are you so sure that there are no crocodiles here?" "Yes, I’m sure," the boy answered. "Crocodiles are cowards. They never come here, because they are afraid of the sharks!" (Source: An extract from ‘No Crocodile’, by H. Weiser and A. Klinentenko, in English 8, 1978, p. 63) 1. Tick the correct order of the words to make a complete sentence. The man(A)/a boy(B)/on the shore(C)/saw(D)/standing(E) (a) ABCDE (b) EDCBA (c) ADBEC (d) AEBCD Write the correct sentence here. 2. Why was the man afraid of getting into water? 3. How did the boy initially reassure the man about the crocodile? 4. When the man asked him again, the boy said that crocodiles are cowards, because they are afraid of ___________________. (a) warm water (b) sharks (c) dirty water (d) the man 5. Do you think the situation in the text is humorous? Why do you think so? 6. A person who goes on a long journey is called a ___________________. (a) native (b) settler (c) traveller (d) passenger 7. Write the opposite of the word ‘coward’ ________________. (a) weakling (b) hero (c) defeatist (d) crybaby
Answers
Answer:
(1) Option c, ADBEC [The man saw a boy standing on the shore]
(2) The man was afraid of getting into the water because he thought crocodiles to be there in the water.
(3) The boy initially denied the fact of crocodiles being present in the water. This way he assured the man.
(4) Option b, Sharks [The last line of the text explains this answer]
(5) Yes, I do find the text to be humorous. In the end, the way the boy reassures about the absence of crocodiles in the water, calling them cowards as they fear sharks seems to be funny.
(6) Option c, Traveller
(7) Option b, Hero
Explanation:
Answers to the questions following the given passage are as follows:
1) The correct order of the sentence is ADBEC. Option (c) is the correct choice. The rearranged sentence is: The man saw a boy standing on the shore.
2) The man was initially scared getting into the water because he saw something moving in the water. He assumed that there may be crocodiles in the water.
3) The reassured the man that there were no crocodiles in the water and that he is sure about it.
4) When the man asked him again, the boy said that crocodiles are cowards, because they are afraid of Sharks (b).
5) The situation is not humorous according to me, because the man could have attacked by the sharks as he did not know about the water he was going into. Initially he was relieved that there were no crocodiles but he was unaware that there can be sharks looming in the warm water.
6) A person who goes on a long journey is called a traveller. (c)
7) The word opposite to 'coward' is hero (b).