MP Board Class 9th Special English Unseen Passages Factual

MP Board Class 9th Special English Unseen Passages Factual

Passage-1

Camps To Tap Creativity

1. As the dreaded examinations crawl to a halt, students look forward to the much-awaited “creative outlets”, the summer camps, to let off steam and spend their holidays. A summer camp is conducted over a short period of four to five weeks involving interesting and fun-filled activities. The colorful spectrum of summer camps provides a wide variety of activities which include artistic skills, such as painting, origami, art, music, craft and also spoken English, cookery and computer courses. Not only this, the summer camps keep the child “fit as a fiddle” by imparting lessons in yoga, cricket, tennis and swimming.

2. With changing, times and trends parents have become productivity-oriented. They want their children to learn through productive play unlike in the past when play was just played. Today, the parents want to tap the potential of their children to the fullest. To achieve this aim, the summer camps afford an ideal opening for children to develop their hobbies and talents. The importance of creative, play is often underestimated whereas the fact is that art and craft projects can excite even a young child’s imagination and promote a sense of great achievement. The little things that children make and take home give them a sense of achievement and pride when they show them to their parents.

3. Summer camps develop a child’s confidence and his ideas. They also encourage children to do things on their own. The camps are beneficial for hyperactive and aggressive children as they help channel their energies fruitfully by drawing out the best in them. They also promote mutual understanding not only among teachers and children but also bring about .interaction between the taught. This provides a good experience for a better future— a future of confidence.

(“The Young World” The Hindu”)

MP Board Solutions

Question 1.
On the basis of your reading of the passage complete the following sentences. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank number : (8 marks)
(a) Activities in summer camps are …………….. and …………….. sentences.
(b) Summer camps keep the children healthy since ……………..
(c) Now-a-days pare’ its Bunk play should be ……………..
(d) “To achieve this aim”. Wliat aim is the writer referring to here?
(e) “They also promote mutual understanding.” They’ refers, to ……………..
(f) Summer camps are particularly helpful for problem children who are …………….. and …………….. Give the list of qualities
(g) …………….. and
(h) …………….. apart from the ones given below, which camps help to develop in children: confidence; creativity; .talents
Answer:
(a) fun-filled and interesting. ;
(b) they impart lessons in yoga, cricket, tennis and swimming.
(c) productivity-oriented.
(d) The aim is the parent’s desire to tap the potential of their children to the fullest.
(e) ‘They’ refers to the summer camps.
(f) hyperactive and aggressive.
(g) independence
(h) mutual understanding

Passage-2

The Rabbits Who Caused All The Troubles

1. Within the memory of the youngest child there was a family of rabbits who lived near a pack of wolves. The wolves announced that they did not like the way the rabbits were living. One night several wolves were killed in an earthquake and this was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that rabbits pound on the ground with their hind legs and cause earthquakes. On another night one of the wolves was killed by a bolt of lightning and this also was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that lettuce-eaters cause lightning.

2. The wolves threatened to civilise the rabbits if they did not behave, and the rabbits decided to run away to a desert island. But the other animals, who lived at a great distance, shamed them saying, “You must stay where you are and be brave. This is no world for escapists. If the wolves attack you, we will come to your aid, in all probability.” So the rabbits continued to live near the wolves. And one day there was a terrible flood which drowned a great many wolves. This was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that carrot nibblers with long ears cause floods. The wolves descended on the rabbits for their own good, and imprisoned them in a dark cave, for their own protection,

3. When nothing was heard about *the rabbits for some weeks, the other animals demanded to know what had happened to them. The wolves replied that the rabbits had been eatem and since they had been eaten the affair was a purely internal matter. “They were trying to escape,” said the wolves, “and, as you know, this is no world for escapists.”amey Thurber

Question 1.
On the basis of your reading of the passage above, complete the following sentences. Write the answers in your answer sheet agaipst the correct numbers.
(a) According to the wolves, the earthquake was caused by the rabbits ……………..
(b) The rabbits did not run away from their place of living to other safe places because ……………..
(c) Pick up two words from the passage which the wolves have used to indicate the nature of rabbits.
(d) What characteristic of the wolves does the phrase for their own good’ reveal?
(e) The wolvesustified their action to the other animals by saying ……………..
(f) The final fate of the rabbits was ……………..
(g) a purely Internal matter’ is humorous because ……………..
(h) The title ‘The Rabbits Who Caused All the Troubles’ is significant because ……………..
Answer:
(a) for it is well known that rabbits pound on the ground with their hind legs and cause earthquakes.
(b) they did not want to be shamed for being escapists.
(c) (i) lettuce-eaters (ii) carrot-nibblers
(d) This phrase reveals the self-centered nature of the wolves
(e) that the rabbits were trying to escape and this is no world for escapists
(f) imprisonment in a dark cave and being devoured by the wolves.
(g) the matter is not at all an internal one
(h) it is ironical as it was only the wolves who thought that the rabbits caused all the troubles

Passage-3

Medical Problems

1. By the end of the 15th century, European explorers had considerable experience of long-distance ocean voyaging. In particular, they had learned that the greatest danger, apart from storms and hurricanes, was lack of food and water. If a ship was becalmed supplies could quickly run low.

2. European navigators had also learned that there were other problems besides hunger and thirst. They noticed that ship crews often became very sick, even though they were eating and drinking regularly, but they did not understand why this happened. In fact, the crews were suffering from a disease called scurvy, caused by a lack of vitamin C. As a result, their gums became sore, their teeth fell out and many eventually died.

3. Scurvy affected crews throughout the Age of Discovery and beyond. Not until the 18th century did the British navy discover an effective way of preventing scurvy to issue a daily dose of lime juice, which is rich in vitamin C. This soon earned British sailors the nickname ‘Limeys’. (167 words)

MP Board Solutions

Question 1.
On the basis of your reading of the passage answer the following questions. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank number.
(a) Two problems sailors faced on long-distance voyages in the 15th century were
(b) Supplies on ships sometimes ran low because
(c) Find words from para number one that mean
1. a lot of
2. being without
Answer:
1 the danger of storms and hurricanes, and the lack of food and water.
(b) of the ship being becalmed.
(c) 1. considerable
2. lack

Question 2.
On the basis of your reading of the passage answer the following notes on scurvy appropriately. Do not add any extra information. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers.
(a) What it is ……………..
(b) Cause ……………..
(c) Symptoms ……………..
(d) Cure ……………..
Answer:
(a) disease
(b) lack of Vitamin C
(c) souring of gums and falling of teeth,
(d) drinking lime juice daily.

Passage-4

About Computers

1. There is a myth that there is something magical about computers * and those who run them. The legend has got about that computers are ‘electronic brain is’ and that programmers are some sort of supermen. The facts are that computers are very stupid and the people who program them are normal human beings. Anyone who can count from 0 to 7 on his or her fingers and make eight can learn to be a programmer. The business is not difficult, just tricky.

2. It is very misleading to imagine that computers can ‘think’ like people. They cannot. They have no more a mind of their own than a lawn-mower. However, they make it possible for people to ‘bottle’ thought. You work out how to do a particular job or solve a problem, write a program and the computer will apply your thinking to that of or problem as long and as often as you like. In this sense, computers are half alive because they perpetuate the thinking of their creators. (167 words)

Question 1.
On the basis of your reading of the passage above complete the notes given below. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers.

Fact and Fiction about Computers.
(a) What Computers cannot do?
(b) What Computers can do?
(c) Programmers are not
(i) They are
(ii) who
(iii) logically or clearly.
Answer:
(a) Computers cannot think.
(b) They perpetuate the thinking of their creators.
(c)
(i) some sort of supermen,
(ii) normal human beings
(iii) can solve a problem

Question 2.
Complete the following statement on the basis of your reading the passage. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers.
2 Computers are like lawn-mowers because (a) …………….. .
(b) The ‘business’ in para 1 refers to ……………..
(c) To ‘bottle’ in para 2 means ……………..
Answer:
(a) like lawn-mower, they do not have a mind of their own.
(b) the job of being a programmer.
(c) to store or to accommodate.

Passage-5

1. Advertising is a dose companion of market economy. Yet it is an unpleasant feature of modern life. Sometimes strange but sensational commercials on T.V. can cost heavily to one’s pocket Not only do they cost heavily to one’s pocket, they also cost heavily to one’s life. Not long before, an innocent student tried to imitate the acrobatics of a young man in a commercial ad- 1 Vertisement and lost his precious life for nothing.

2. In some cases advertising has started to erode individual privacy, in the name of educating and enlightening the consumer about his rights to choose the right product. The magazines, TV and movies keep dinning into the ears of everyone that material things are what life is about. Advertising has invaded every aspect of human existence. It includes sponsoring of events like sports etc. on a global basis. Advertising sells not only goods; it sells ideas also. Ideas – good ideas, like national integration and communal harmony, have been spread through advertising.

3. In addition to commercial advertising we have social advertising. Social advertising refers to the advertisements which deal with social causes. They aim at the welfare and well-being of the people. Its target audience is not a specific class. It aims at masses who can be educated about issues like health, family welfare, literacy, national security etc. They are so important that even the government falls back upon them very often to highlight issues of immediate and national concern.

MP Board Solutions

Question 1.
On the basis of your reading of the passage, complete the following statements as briefly as possible. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers.

Do not copy the whole sentence.
(a) In some cases advertisements affect individual
(b) Advertising sells not only good stisement is
(d) Sometimes advertisements are good because
Answer:
(a) privacy
(b) it sells ideas also.
(c) that it may cost heavily tp one’s life also.
(d) they spread ideas like national integration and communal harmony.

Question 2.
Fill in the missing words in the spaces that are left blank. .Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers.
(a) Instead of the word “companion” (para 1) we can use the word.
(b) Instead of the phrase “Not long before” (para 1) we can- use the word
(c) According to the passage the greatest danger of adver.
(c) The two types of advertisement are
(1) …………….. (2) ……………..
Answer:
(a) “associate”
(b) ‘recently’.
(c)
(i) Commercial advertising;
(ii) Social advertising

Passage-6

If we would see our dream of Panchayat Raj, i.e., true democracy realized, we would regard the humblest and lowest Indian as being the ruler of India with the tallest in the land This presupposes that all are pure, or will become pure if they are not. And purity must go hand-in-hand with wisdom. No one would then harbor any distinction between community and community, caste and out-caste. Everybody would regard all as equal with oneself and hold them together in the silken net of love. No one would regard another as untouchable. We would hold as equal the toiling laborer and the rich capitalist. Everybody would know how to earn an honest living by the sweat of one’s brow, and make no distinction between intellectual and physical labour. To hasten this consummation, we would voluntarily turn ourselves into scavengers. No one who has wisdom will ever touch opium liquor or any intoxicants. Everybody would observe Swadeshi as the rule of life and regard every woman not being his wife, as his’ mother, sister or daughter according to her age, never lust after her in his heart. He would be ready to lay down his life when occasion demands it, never want to take another’s life. If he is a Sikh in terms of the commandment of the Gurus he would have the heroic courage to stand single-handed and alone—without yielding an inch of ground against the “one lakh an a quarter” enjoined by them. Needless to say, such a son of India will not want to be told what his duty in the present hour is.

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem above complete the following sentences. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers.
(a) Panchayat Raj is true democracy because
(b) When purity goes hand-in-hand with wisdom there will not be any
(c) A man of wisdom will never use in democracy.
Answer:
(a) the humblest and lowest Indian would be the ruler of India.
(b) distinction on the lines of community and caste.
(c) opium, liquor or any Toxicants

Question 2.
On the basis of your reading the passage answer the following questions:
(a) The Panchayat Raj will eradicate untouchability. How?
(b) How will Swadeshi promote patriotism and a sense of national pride?
Answer:
(a) Panchayat Raj will ensure no distinction between caste and community. Everybody would regard all as equal with oneself and this ideology will help to eradicate untouchability.
(b) Swadeshi will promote patriotism as the rule of life, and each Indian would be ready to lay down his life when the occasion demands and will .want to do his duty for the nation as demanded by the present hour.

Passage-7

Getting a good night’s sleep can help you cope with stress more effectively. But not getting enough sleep can cause more stress. Insomniacs have higher concentrations of stress hormones than others.

Women are prone to sleep disturbances. Their sleep problems frequently interfere with their daily activities.

Experts believe that sleep, especially .deep sleep, enables our nervous system to function well. Without it, we lose our ability to concentrate, remember or analyse. Some experts speculate that during deep sleep, cells manufacture more proteins, which are essential for cell growth and repair of damage from things like stress and ultraviolet rays.

Scientists believe that activity in the area of the brain that controls emotions and social interactions lessens during sleep and that deep sleep may help people be emotionally and socially adept when awake.

Sleep may also help our brain to store a newly learned activity in its memory bank. In a study, Canada, students deprived of sleep after learning a complex logic game showed a 30 percent learning deficit when tested a week later compared with students not deprived of sleep.

The effects of sleep deprivation on other bodily functions are just as alarming. In studies from five medical centres across the country, researchers established that individuals with insomnia were also more likely to have poor health, including chest pain, arthritis and depression and to have difficulty accomplishing daily tasks. Another breakthrough study revealed that even temporary loss of sleep can affect the body’s ability to break down carbohydrates, interfere with the function of various hormones and worsen the severity of ailments such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

So whatever works to help you sleep well, whether its regular exercise earlier in the day, weekly massages, yoga, meditation or a lavender-scented bath, make time for it today. (300 words)

MP Board Solutions

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the passage above complete the following sentences. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers.

While good sleep helps to (a) …………………. lack of it can (b) …………………. (2) Deep sleep makes the nervous system (c) …………………. so that we can (d) …………………. well. (2)

A Canadian research on students’sleep has proved that (e) (2)
Answer:
(a) cope with stress
(b) cause more stress
(c) to function well
(d) concentrate, remember and analyse
(e) students deprived of sleep showed a 30 percent learning deficit than students not deprived of sleep.
(f) poor health.
(g) weakens body’s ability to break down carbohydrates.
(h) interferes with junction of various hormones.
(i) worsens severity of diabetes and high blood pressure.

III-effects of Insomnia
MP Board Class 9th Special English Unseen Passages Factual 1

Question 2.
Any two ways suggested in the passage to promote good sleep are:
(i) …………………. (ii) ………………….
Answer:
(i) regular exercise earlier in the day.
(ii) yoga or meditation

Passage-8

1. We’ve just left the dinner table, when I hear music coming from my daughter’s computer. It surprises me that my daughter Ida is listening to music from a time she refers to as the very old days. “What are you playing?” I ask. “It’s Phi Collins,” is her prompt reply, while she shows how, with a few strokes, she can download almost any song from the Internet. limes have certainly been changing since I scratched my first Beatles record. Tactfully I don’t mention that I had bought the record she’s listening to before she was bom. The concept of a phonograph record belongs to a bygone age and I don’t want to spoil the pleasure she’ll get from discovering her “own” new favorite musician.

2. The music brings memories flooding back. I have a sudden urge to bring back my record collection from the attic, where it has moldered for almost a decade. Only one thing stops me: my turntable succumbed to the damp air in a cellar where I stored it for a good ten years. No, I don’t care if turntables are ancient technology: I will find one. And I will restore my long lost record collection which took up a good amount of shelf space to its former glory. Buying something as uncool as a turntable takes courage and planning. I find a promising TV and radio store in the phone book but I am expecting a mountain of questions from the clerk, who will most certainly have been born and raised after the demise of the turntable.

3. “A turntable? Coming right up!” says the young man behind the counter. He disappears into the storeroom and before I can say long-playing record, he’s back with a small cardboard under his arm. It’s too good to be true. An hour later my new acquisition is in the living room and a respectful atmosphere descends. I’ve sorted my records into piles all over the floor, I find a Beatles album.

4. Behind the wonderful music now flowing through the loudspeaker is die unmistakable sound of vinyl. It doesn’t take long for my twelve-year-old son’s* eagle eye to spot the turntable and he has to try it out.onas is technically minded, a child * of the computer age, yet I sense a certain reverence as he picks up the tonearm and tries to place it in the middle of the record. Brought up in the CD age how could he know what’s wrong?

I say in a soothing voice: “The starting, groove is on-die edge of the record.” “Does it matter which side is up?” queried my daughter. “It does matter,” I replied. Soon we were listening to a Phil Collins number we both like. The generation gap vanishes as the music takes over. I relish the moment to the full and cast a glance at Ida. She’s relaxed and smiling.

Question 1.
Fill in the following summary using only one word for each blank. Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank number. (1/2 6 = 3 marks)

It was a moment of surprise for the author to (a) ………………….. that his daughter had the same (b) ………………….. for music as he had. This brought back (c) ………………….. of his (d) ………………….. collection in the attic. Though, a (e) ………………….. task, he was (f) ………………….. in locating a turntable.
Answer:
(a) discover
(b) passion/interest
(c) memories
(d) record
(e) difficult
(f) successful

Question 2.
Complete the following sentences. Write the answers in your answer sheet.
(a) Tonas did not know how to handle the turntable as
(b) Music could bridge the generation gap as
(c) The author was reluctant to bring out his turntable from the cellar because
Answer:
(a) he was seeing it for the first time and he was a technically minded computer age child.
(b) it takes over the complete atmosphere and makes one relish each moment to the full.
(c) it had mouldered there for almost a decade and might have succumbed to the damp air in a cella

Question 3.
Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following
(a) skillfully avoiding giving offense (para 1).
(b) a feeling of respect (para 4)
Answer:
(a) tactfully
(b) reverence

Passage-9

1. Papaya is the healthiest fruit with a list of properties that is long and exhaustive. Belonging to the family of Caricaceae fruit, it is commonly kown as Papaw.in Australia and Mamao in Brazil.

It first originated in southern Mexico and neighboring Central America, but is now available in every tropical and subtropical’ country. Papaya favors digestion as well as cures skin irritation, and sun bums. You can munch on it as a salad, have it cooked or boiled or just drink it up as milkshake juices. Modern science confirms the age-old beliefs that papaya has much to contribute to die health cause. The most important of these virtues is the protein-digesting enzyme in the milky juice or latex. The enzyme is similar to pepsin in its digestive action and is said to be so powerful that it can digest 200 times its own weight in protein. It assists the body in assimilating the maximum nutritional value from food to provide energy and body building materials.

2. Papain in raw papaya makes up for the deficiency of gastric juice and fights excess of unhealthy mucus in the stomach, dyspepsia and intestinal irritation. The ripe fruit, if eaten regularly corrects habitual constipation, bleeding piles and chronic diarrhea. The juice of the papaya seeds also assists in the above- mentioned ailments.

3. The ’juice, used as a cosmetic, removes freckles or brown spots due to exposure to sunlight and makes the skin smooth and delicate. A paste of papaya seeds is applied in skin diseases like those caused by ringworm. The black seeds of the papaya are highly beneficial in the treatment of cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcoholism, malnutrition, etc. A tablespoonful of its juice, combined with a hint of fresh lime juice, should be consumed once or twice daily for a month. The fresh juice of raw papaya mixed with honey can be applied over inflamed tonsils, for diphtheria and other throat disorders. It dissolves the membrane and prevents infection from spreading.

MP Board Solutions

Question 1.
Complete the following :
(a) The other names for papaya are ;
(b) Though now found in every tropical country
(c) One of the most important virtues of papaya is
(d) Intestinal irritation can be overcome
(e) Diseases cured by papaya are
(f) Throat disorders can be cured if
Answer:
(a) Papaw and Mamao.
(b) it first originated in Southern Mexico and neighboring Central America.
(c) the protein-digesting enzyme in the milky juice or latex.
(d) by the papain in raw-papaya.
(e) habitual constipation, bleeding piles and chronic diarrhea.
(f) fresh juice of raw papaya mixed with honey is applied over inflamed tonsils.

Question 2.
Complete the table below :

Portion / extract Juice
(b) ____________________
Black seeds
treatment for
(a) ___________________
Skin diseases
(d) ___________________
caused by exposure to sunlight
(c) ____________________
Alcoholism

Answer:
(a) freckles or brown spots
(b) Paste of Papaya seeds
(c) ringworm
(d) cirrhosis of the liver

Passage-10

1. Set in the declining but still green Western Ghats m the southwest of Karnataka, Coorg is the heart of India’s coffee country coffee being the world’s most heavily traded commodity after crude oil. Coorg boasts a land area four times larger than Hong Kong and seven times the area of Singapore, most of it is under tree cover because unlike tea plants, the coffee bush requires shade.

2. India is acknowledged as the producer of the finest mild coffees. With their tropical climate, high altitude, abundant rainfall and fertile soil, Coorg and the neighboring Chickmagalur districts in Karnataka have consistently produced and exported high-quality ^ coffee for over 150 years. The coffee output of these two districts accounts for 70 percent of the total coffee produced in the country. Coorg coffee is valued for its blue colour, clean beans and fine liquoring qualities and hence is in demand in the international markets.

3. In March and April is the coffee blossom time in Coorg. When . blossoms transform into berries, the bushes are cropped. The cherry-red fruit is then pulped; the seeds separated, dried and sent for curing. Coorg or Kodagu is the district which is one of the largest producers of pepper, cardamom and honey in the world.

4. Not much is known about early history of Coorg. Recorded history is available only from 1600 AD onwards when Kodava rajas ruled over the region and established their capital at Mercara by constructing a mud-walled fort. The martial Kodavas troubled Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan who ruled the Mysore region in the, 18lh century by way of sporadic rebellions. But in 1785, Tipu’s large army marched into Kodagu and devastated the kingdom. Fourteen years later, with the help of the British who defeated Tipu Sultan following the historic siege of Srirangapatana in 1799, Coorg regained independence and under the leadership of Raja Veerarajendra rebuilt die capital. Later in 1834, the British exiled its ruler Chikkaveera Rajendra and assumed administrative charge of the district. The British left India in 1947, leaving behind a legacy of coffee plantations* colonial buildings and well- planned road networks.

Question 1.
Complete the following:
(a) The tea plants are unlike coffee plants as the latter
(b) Coorg coffee is internationally acclaimed for its
(c) Coorg is famous not only for coffee but also for
(d) After crude oil, coffee is the
Answer:
(a) require shade
(b) blue colour, clean beans and fine liquoring qualities
(c) pepper, cardamom and honey
(d) world’s most heavily traded commodity

MP Board Solutions

Question 2.
Complete the table given below:

Year Events
(a) ………………………………….. Recorded history.of Coorg
1785 AD available from
(b) …………………………………..
(c) ………………………………….. Coorg regained independence
1834 AD (d) …………………………………..

Answer:
(a) 1600 AD
(b) Tipu’s large army marched into Kodagu and devastated the kingdom.
(c) 1799
(d) British exiled the ruler Chikkaveera Rajendra and assumed ad-ministrative charge of the district.

MP Board Class 9th English Solutions

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