10 Comprehension Passages Practice exercise examples with Question and Answers for Class 8, 9, 10, 12 Students. Part 2.

10 Comprehension Passages with Questions and Answers.

Passage-1

Man shares with birds and animals one particular instinct, the instinct to build a house to live in. But ad all other respects, this same instinct finds a much richer and more complex expression in man. Man’s idea of a house keeps changing from age to age. Of all people perhaps, it is English who have the finest taste in this matter. To visit an English house, and that too an old manor house is to know what it means to own a house. The key is real warmth and comfort and not mere show.

QUESTIONS

1. Man’s idea of a house keeps changing? How?

2. What according to the passage ‘the instinct to build a house is?

3. Why the English are said to have the finest taste in building houses?

4. Give the meaning of ‘instinct in the passage.

ANSWERS

1. As he earns more money.

2. It is peculiar to man alone.

3. They spend a lot of money on them.

4. The meaning of instinct in the passage is impulse.

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Passage-2

As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him. It is a serious matter to shoot a working elephant. It is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery—and obviously one ought not to do it if it can possibly be avoided. And at that distance, peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow.

QUESTIONS

1. Why was the writer against shooting the elephant?

2. The elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow, why?

3. The author compares the elephant to a costly machine, why?

ANSWERS

1. The writer was against shooting the elephant because it would amount to an avoidable waste of useful property.

2. The elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow because it was quietly doing its work.

3. Because elephants look like big machines.

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Passage-3

Unemployment on a large scale is a major problem in India today. It is also associated with various other kinds of evils like poverty and backwardness. Idle hands with nothing to do turn into devils disciples and desperados criminals and crooks-ultimately bringing forth the evil side of human nature. For tackling the problem effectively, we need changes at various levels such as in the spheres of education, production, agriculture and industry. Proper emphasis should be put on a planned economy with the welfare of the common man in view. We also have to exploit the underdeveloped resources of our country through technological advancement.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the underlying idea of the passage?

2. “Unemployment” literally means what?

3. For the welfare of the common man what is necessary to do?

4. What are the two evils with which unemployment is associated?

ANSWERS

1. The underlying idea of the passage is that unemployment creates social problems.

2. The literal meaning of unemployment is lack of proper employment.

3. For the welfare of the common man it is necessary to have plans for all-around development such as changes in education, production, agriculture and industry.

4. The two evils with which unemployment is associated are poverty and backwardness.

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Passage-4

A truly educated man is one who is free from all superstitions. But it may be difficult to find a man who is educated in the real sense. Superstition is an aspect of human nature that will perhaps never disappear completely, despite all advances in science. For, to take the case of scientists—they are also human beings, and even the most well known of scientists will be one person in the laboratory, and quite a different person when at home. If his child catches smallpox, he would, it is likely, wait for the sores and the fever to subside of themselves, rather than consult a doctor. He would take the child to a temple for a Darshana of the mother goddess, like everybody else.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the meaning of ‘superstition as an aspect of human nature?

2. If a scientist’s son catches smallpox, what will he do?

3. Is it true that a person is a scientist in the laboratory as well as at home?

4. According to the passage when a man can be considered truly educated?

ANSWERS

The meaning is—that to be superstitious is natural to man.
He will wait for the disease to disappear like everybody else.
No, it is utterly impossible for a person to be a scientist in the laboratory as well as at home.
A man can be considered truly educated if he is free from all superstitions.

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Passage-5

In many countries, the called modernity has introduced a dichotomy between the educated and the unschooled, and between work and art. This has led to a decline in people’s creativity. The mass market and the mass media, which are concomitants of ‘progress’ as it is understood, give currency to standardised stereotyped-consumption goods. Technology does reduce drudgery, but it also reduces joy and the poise and self-assurance that come with personal involvement and contribution. A great part of the stress and dissatisfaction of contemporary life is because art and joy have become leisure time activities to be persuaded rather than a natural part of all our activities. They are no longer integral but extra. In processing food, nutritious elements are lost.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the main idea of the given passage?

2. About which subject the writer is recommending in this passage?

3. What is the cause of stress and dissatisfaction in life?

4. Give the most appropriate title for the passage.

ANSWERS

1. The main idea of the passage is–modernisation by affecting creativity has reduced joy and poise.

2. The writer recommends we avoid the adverse effects of modernisation.

3. The stress and dissatisfaction in our life are because art and joy are no more a natural part of our activities.

4. The appropriate title for the passage is “Adverse Effects of Modernisation”.

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Passage-6

The Government of India is one of the few which have an officially sponsored programme of family planning and this is making some progress. We believe that planned families will make for a healthier and more conscious population. But we know also that no programme of population control can be effective with education and without a visible rise in the standard of living. Our own programmes have succeeded in the urban or semi-urban areas. To the very poor, every child is an earner and helper. We are experimenting with new approaches and the family planning programme is being combined with those of maternity and the child welfare, nutrition and development in general.

QUESTIONS

1. Why should we have planned families?

2. How can the programme of population control be effective?

3. What are we doing to make the family planning programme successful?

ANSWERS

1. Family planning will help the population to become more conscious and healthier.

2. It is essential to educate the masses and raise their standard of living, to make the population control programme effective.

3. We are including maternity and child welfare, nutrition and development in the family planning programme to make it successful.

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Passage-7

Doctors are also interested in using lasers as a surgical tool in operations on people who are prone to heart attacks. In the United States and Canada alone, more than 1.5 million people suffer from heart attacks each year. Most of these attacks result from an obstruction of blood flow through the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries supply the largest part of the blood to the heart. It is common for people who show signs of heart disease to have a high cholesterol count. The more cholesterol in the blood, the greater the possibility of its building upon the inner walls of the arteries, as fatty deposits called plaques. If the buildup continues, all it will take is a small clot in the bloodstream to shut off the circulation and cause a heart attack or a stroke.

QUESTIONS

1. What tool is being used these days in performing heart operations?

2. What causes a heart attack?

3. What are the symptoms of heart disease?

4. What is the role of coronary arteries?

5. What happens when the fatty acids continue to grow?

6. Why does the high level of cholesterol in the blood increase the possibility of a heart attack?

ANSWERS

1. Lasers are being used as surgical tools in performing heart operations.

2. The obstruction in the flow of blood through coronary arteries causes a heart attack.

3. The symptom of heart disease is to have a high blood cholesterol count.

4. The coronary arteries supply the largest part of the blood to the heart.

5. If the fatty deposits continue to grow, it will make the arteries so narrow that even a small clot in the bloodstream can block the supply to the heart resulting in a heart attack.

6. A high level of cholesterol in the blood results in fatty deposits called plaque on the inner walls of the arteries, and as plaques grow, the opening of the arteries gets smaller and cuts down on blood flow.

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Passage-8

There cannot be two sets of values, politics is part of life. In the old Greek sense of the word, politics is the essence of life, for it permeates all activities. Unfortunately, present-day politicians have made it superficial as if it were merely a profession, Values in political or professional life cannot be fragmented from those perennial values which are necessary for the unfolding of man’s personality. To treat political values as separate and independent of human values is to diminish the human dimensions. Politics will destroy itself unless it discovers new grounds for behaviour and action.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

2. What can we infer from the passage?

3. Give the appropriate title for the passage.

4. What does politics mean in the Greek sense?

ANSWERS

1. The main idea of the passage is that the values in politics are different from values in human life.

2. We can infer from the passage that present-day politics does not bother about values.

3. The appropriate title for the passage is Values in politics and human values’.

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Passage-9

Kalidas was cutting a branch of a tree in his garden. While he was sawing, another man passed in the street. He saw Kalidas, stopped and said, ‘Excuse me, but if you continue to saw that branch like that, you will fall down with iť. He said this because Kalidas was sitting on the branch and cutting it at a place between himself and the trunk of the tree. Kalidas said nothing. He thought, “This is some foolish person who has no work to do and goes about telling other people what to do and what not to”. The man continues on his way. Of course, after a few minutes, the branch fell and Kalidas also fell with it, ‘My God! he cried. “That man knows the future!’ and he ran after him to ask him how long he was going to live. But the man had gone.

QUESTIONS

1. Kalidas thought the man was foolish. Do you think so too? Why/why not?

2. Why did the man stop on seeing Kalidas?

3. Was Kalidas right in thinking that the man knew the future?

4. Give a suitable title for the passage.

ANSWERS

1. No, I don’t think that the man was foolish as he was giving a right advice to Kalidas.

2. The man stopped on seeing Kalidas because he was cutting that branch of the tree on which he himself was sitting.

3. No, Kalidas was not right in thinking that the man knew the future because anyone would do the same thing after seeing his foolish behaviour.

4. The title for the passage—“The foolish Kalidas”.

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Passage-10

Floods continue to occur and cause heavy damage each year. Permanent flood control measures, must, therefore, include other things besides the construction of embankments and drainage channels. This brings up the question of stopping the deforestation of the mountains where most of our rivers rise. The ‘Chipko Movement’ launched by Mr Sundar Lal Bahuguna has focused attention on this aspect of the matter. Mountain forests are a natural protection against floods in the rivers. The dense vegetation of mountain forests acts as a brake on snow and scree and sucks up part of the rainfall. The cutting down of these forests removes this protective cover, turning small streams into raging torrents. The disappearance of this cover also causes immense soil erosion. This, in turn, leads to the sitting-up of the rivers in the plains, and the sitting of the midstream causes the rivers to burst their banks during the rainy season. If deforestation in the high altitude areas in our country continues at the present pace; floods and landslides could be the inevitable result.

QUESTIONS

1. What was ‘Chipko Movement?

2. How do forests help us in checking floods?

3. Explain the term ‘deforestation.

4. Give the gist of the above passage.

5. Suggest a suitable title for the paragraph.

ANSWERS

1. The Chipko Movement launched by Mr Sundar Lal Bahuguna aims at protecting forests and stopping deforestation because forests are a natural protection against floods in the rivers.

2. a Large number of trees in the forests act as a brake on snow and scree and suck up part of the rainfall and this checks flood.

3. The term deforestation means cutting down of trees on large scale.

4. The gist of the passage is that if deforestation in our country continues, it will result in floods and landslides that could be inevitable.