You have read a play by Anton Chekov. Given below is a story by the same author. Listen and enjoy the recorded story or someone may read it aloud to you. Then answer the questions that follow. (Vanka Zhukov, a nine-year old boy, was made an assistant to Alyakhin, the Shoemaker. He didn’t go to bed on Christmas Eve. When everyone in the shop had gone to Church, he began to write on a crumpled sheet of paper. "Dear Grandfather Konstantin, he wrote", I’m writing a letter to you. I wish you a Merry Christmas and all good things from the Lord God. I’ve no father and mother, and you are all I have left.") Vanka raised his eyes to the dark windowpane. In his imagination he saw his grandfather Konstantin standing there. His grandfather was a night watchman on the estate of a rich man. Konstantin was a small, thin and lively old man of sixty-five whose face was always crinkling with laughter. In the daytime the old man slept in the servant’s kitchen or cracked jokes with the cooks. At night, wrapped in a big sheepskin coat he made rounds of the estate, blowing his whistle at regular intervals. He was always followed by his dogs, Brownie and Eel. Eel was a particularly remarkable dog. He was extremely respectful and endearing and looked lovingly on friends and strangers alike; yet no one trusted him. He would creep behind someone and bite his leg or run off with a peasant’s chicken. Many a time Eel was beaten mercilessly, yet he always managed to survive. At this very moment, Vanka thought, grandfather was probably standing by the gates, looking up at the bright red windows of the village church and cracking jokes with the servants. "What about a pinch of snuff?" he would say, holding out his snuffbox to the women. The women would take a pinch and sneeze and the old man would feel happy about it. "Fine for frozen noses, eh!" he’d say. The dogs, too, were given snuff. Brownie would sneeze, shake her head and walk away looking hurt. Eel, too polite to sneeze, only wagged his tail. Vanka looked through the window. The weather was glorious. The air was fresh. The night was very dark, but the roofs of the houses and trees were all covered with snow. Stars twinkled in the sky and it appeared that they had been washed and placed there only for the holidays. Vanka sighed, and went on writing: "Yesterday I was given a beating. That was because when I was rocking the baby in the cradle, I unfortunately fell asleep. Another day the mistress of the house asked me to clean the fish. I didn’t know how, so she rubbed the fish all over my face. My friends laughed at me. Then there’s nothing to eat. In the morning they give me bread, there is porridge for dinner and in the evening only bread again. The master and the mistress eat all the good things themselves. I sleep in the corridor and when the baby cries, I don’t get any sleep at all because I’ve to rock the cradle. Dear Grandfather, please take me away from here, take me to the village, it’s more than I can bear." Vanka rubbed his eyes with his fists and sobbed. "I’ll grind your snuff for you, he went on", I’ll pray to God to keep you healthy and if I ever do anything wrong, you can beat me as you like. If you think there’s no place for me then I can clean boots or even work as a shepherd boy. Grandfather, it’s more than I can bear. I thought of running away to the village, but I don’t have any boots. If you’ll help me now, I’ll feed you when I grow up and when you die I’ll pray for your soul just like I do for my mother. "Dear Grandfather, when they put up the Christmas tree at the big house, please take down a golden walnut for me and hide it in the green box. Ask the young mistress Olga, and say it is for Vanka." Vanka sighed and gazed in the direction of the window. He remembered it was grandfather who always went to the forest to cut down a Christmas tree for the rich people, taking Vanka with him. They had a wonderful time together, the snow falling, the trees crackling and hares springing across the trees, When the tree had been chopped down, grandfather would drag it to the big house and they would start decorating it. The young mistress Olga, Vanka’s favourite, was the busiest of all. Vanka’s mother, when alive, had worked as Olga’s maid. Then Olga had given him all the sweets and played a lot with Vanka. But after his mother’s death, Vanka was sent to the kitchen to be with his grandfather and from there to Alyakhin, the shoemaker. "Come to me, dear grandfather," Vanka wrote on, ...................
Answers
Explanation:
(B) He have no no father and mother, grandfather is the only blood relation he have. so he wrote a letter to his grandfather.
(c) He was raised by his grandfather and hid grandfather shows lot of love to him
(d) by Alaykhin several times
(e) Unfortunately he felt asleep when he was rocking the baby in the cradle
(f) He will feed his grandfather when he grow up and when his grandfather die he’ll pray for his soul just like he do for his mother
(g) work as an assistant in his shop.
(h) next to his grandfather he likes Olga very much
(i) He address the letter as "To Grandfather in the village"
(j) After posting the letter, he was fast asleep and he dreamed a stove . In the dream his grandfather was sitting beside it, reading out his letter to the cooks. Eel, the dog, was walking round the stove, wagging his tail
Answer:
You have read a play by Anton Chekov. Given below is a story by the same author. Listen and enjoy the recorded story or someone may read it aloud to you. Then answer the questions that follow. (Vanka Zhukov, a nine-year old boy, was made an assistant to Alyakhin, the Shoemaker. He didn’t go to bed on Christmas Eve. When everyone in the shop had gone to Church, he began to write on a crumpled sheet of paper. "Dear Grandfather Konstantin, he wrote", I’m writing a letter to you. I wish you a Merry Christmas and all good things from the Lord God. I’ve no father and mother, and you are all I have left.") Vanka raised his eyes to the dark windowpane. In his imagination he saw his grandfather Konstantin standing there. His grandfather was a night watchman on the estate of a rich man. Konstantin was a small, thin and lively old man of sixty-five whose face was always crinkling with laughter. In the daytime the old man slept in the servant’s kitchen or cracked jokes with the cooks. At night, wrapped in a big sheepskin coat he made rounds of the estate, blowing his whistle at regular intervals. He was always followed by his dogs, Brownie and Eel. Eel was a particularly remarkable dog. He was extremely respectful and endearing and looked lovingly on friends and strangers alike; yet no one trusted him. He would creep behind someone and bite his leg or run off with a peasant’s chicken. Many a time Eel was beaten mercilessly, yet he always managed to survive. At this very moment, Vanka thought, grandfather was probably standing by the gates, looking up at the bright red windows of the village church and cracking jokes with the servants. "What about a pinch of snuff?" he would say, holding out his snuffbox to the women. The women would take a pinch and sneeze and the old man would feel happy about it. "Fine for frozen noses, eh!" he’d say. The dogs, too, were given snuff. Brownie would sneeze, shake her head and walk away looking hurt. Eel, too polite to sneeze, only wagged his tail. Vanka looked through the window. The weather was glorious. The air was fresh. The night was very dark, but the roofs of the houses and trees were all covered with snow. Stars twinkled in the sky and it appeared that they had been washed and placed there only for the holidays. Vanka sighed, and went on writing: "Yesterday I was given a beating. That was because when I was rocking the baby in the cradle, I unfortunately fell asleep. Another day the mistress of the house asked me to clean the fish. I didn’t know how, so she rubbed the fish all over my face. My friends laughed at me. Then there’s nothing to eat. In the morning they give me bread, there is porridge for dinner and in the evening only bread again. The master and the mistress eat all the good things themselves. I sleep in the corridor and when the baby cries, I don’t get any sleep at all because I’ve to rock the cradle. Dear Grandfather, please take me away from here, take me to the village, it’s more than I can bear." Vanka rubbed his eyes with his fists and sobbed. "I’ll grind your snuff for you, he went on", I’ll pray to God to keep you healthy and if I ever do anything wrong, you can beat me as you like. If you think there’s no place for me then I can clean boots or even work as a shepherd boy. Grandfather, it’s more than I can bear. I thought of running away to the village, but I don’t have any boots. If you’ll help me now, I’ll feed you when I grow up and when you die I’ll pray for your soul just like I do for my mother. "Dear Grandfather, when they put up the Christmas tree at the big house, please take down a golden walnut for me and hide it in the green box. Ask the young mistress Olga, and say it is for Vanka." Vanka sighed and gazed in the direction of the window. He remembered it was grandfather who always went to the forest to cut down a Christmas tree for the rich people, taking Vanka with him. They had a wonderful time together, the snow falling, the trees crackling and hares springing across the trees, When the tree had been chopped down, grandfather would drag it to the big house and they would start decorating it. The young mistress Olga, Vanka’s favourite, was the busiest of all. Vanka’s mother, when alive, had worked as Olga’s maid. Then Olga had given him all the sweets and played a lot with Vanka. But after his mother’s death, Vanka was sent to the kitchen to be with his grandfather and from there to Alyakhin, the shoemaker. "Come to me, dear grandfather," Vanka wrote on, ....
Explanation: