Passage for practice

Every single mistake is a blessing in disguise; there are actually untold

blessings hidden within every mistake.

Children make many mistakes while learning how to ride a bike or write, and
we don’t give it a second thought because we know that through their
mistakes they will learn and eventually master what they’re trying to do. So
why is it that adults are so hard on themselves? We all make mistakes, and if
we didn’t make them we’d never learn anything and we wouldn’t grow any
smarter or wiser. We have the freedom to make our own choices, and the
freedom to make mistakes. Mistakes can hurt, but if we don’t learn from the
mistakes we’ve made, the pain we’ve suffered from them has been for nothing.
By the law of attraction, we will make the same mistake over and over again,
until the consequences hurt so much that we finally learn from it. This is the
very reason why mistakes hurt, so that we do learn from them and don’t make
them repeatedly.

To learn from a mistake, we first have to own it, and this is where many people
can come undone because they often blame someone else for their mistake.
Let’s consider the scenario of being pulled over by the police for speeding and
being given a speeding ticket. Instead of taking responsibility for speeding we
blame the police because we were caught unawares. But the mistake was ours
as-we-ehose to speed.

We are human, we will make mistakes and it’s on of the most beautiful things
about being human. But we must learn from our mistakes, lot of unnecessary
pain.

So, how do we learn from our mistakes? Gratitude! No matter how bad
something may seem, there are always many things to be grateful for. When
you look for as many things as you can to be grateful for in a mistake, you
magically transform the mistake into a blessing, and blessings attract more
blessings.

Today think of a mistake and let it be a lesson learnt. Let it be a blessing. Look
for the things to be grateful for. Ask yourself what you have learnt from this
mistake. Every blessing you find has a magical power. So, get ready to write
out your list in a gratitude journal or type them on a computer.
Questions
(a) On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following
questions briefly.
(i) What is hidden in a mistake, according to the author?
(ii) How are children different from adults with regard to mistakes?
(iii) How can we gain from a mistake that hurts?
(iv) What do we need to do to learn from our mistakes? .
(v) How can you transform a mistake into a blessing?
(vi) What does the writer mean by the last sentence in the passage?

(b) On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following
questions by choosing the most appropriate option.
(i) When we are caught for our mistake what is our normal reaction?
(a) We were unprepared
(b) We own up to the mistake
(c) We blame someone else for the mistake
(d) None of these

(ii) What suggestion does the author give for mistakes to become magical?
(a) Every mistake becomes a blessing in disguise
(b) Ask yourself what you have learnt from the mistakes made by you
(c) Learning from mistakes becomes a habit
(d) All of the above

(iii) Which of the following words is the antonym of ‘consequences’ used in

paragraph 2?
(a) results
(b) causes
(c) ramifications
(d) outcomes

(iv) Which of the following words is the synonym of ‘eventually’ used in

paragraph 2?
(a) ultimately
(b) initially
(c) timely
(d) finally

(v) Which of the following words means the same as ‘caught unawares’ used in
paragraph 3?
(a) predisposed
(b) set
(c) ready
(d) unprepared

(vi) Which of the following words is the synonym of ‘grateful’ used in

paragraph 4?
(a) unappreciative
(b) happy
(c) thankful
(d) None of these

Passage 2

These days, it is not unusual to see people listening to music or using their
electronic gadgets while crossing busy roads or travelling on public transport,
regardless of the risks involved. I have often wondered why they take such
risks: is it because they want to exude a sense of independence, or is it that
they want to tell the world to stop bothering them? Or is it that they just want
to show how cool they are?

Whether it is a workman or an executive, earphones have become an

inseparable part of our lives, sometimes even leading to tragicomic situations.
The other day, an electrician had come to our house to fix something. We told
him in detail what needed to be done. But after he left, I found that the man
had done almost nothing. It later turned out that he could not hear our
directions clearly because he had his earphones on.

Hundreds of such earphones addicts commute by the Delhi Metro every day.
While one should not begrudge anyone their moments of privacy or their love
for music, the fact is ‘iPod oblivion’ can sometimes be very dangerous.
Recently, I was travelling with my wife on the Delhi Metro. Since the train was
approaching the terminus, there weren’t too many passengers. In our
compartment, other than us, there were only two women sitting on the other
side of the aisle. And then suddenly, I spotted a duffel bag. The bomb scare
lasted for several minutes. Then suddenly, a youth emerged from nowhere and
picked up the bag. When we tried to stop him, he looked at us, surprised.
Then he took off his earpieces, lifted the bag, and told us that the bag
belonged to him and that he was going to get off at the next station.

We were stunned but recovered in time to ask him where he was all this while?
His answer: he was in the compartment, leaning against the door, totally
immersed in the music. He had no clue about what was going on around him.
When he got off, earplugs in his hand, we could hear strains of the song.

Questions
(a) On the basis of your reading ofthe passage, answer the following
Questions briefly.
(i) What was not an unusual sight for the author?
(ii) Why didn’t the electrician carry out the work properly?
(iii) Why were the people in the compartment doubtful about the bag?
(iv) Why didn’t anyone come to claim the bag?
(v) What is the meaning of ‘tragicomic’ given in paragraph 2 ?
(vi) What do you understand by the word ‘aisle’ mentioned in paragraph 3?

(b) On the basis of your reading of the passage, complete the statements
given below by choosing the most appropriate option.
(i) The reason for people listening to music or using their electronic gadgets
while crossing busy roads or travelling on public transport is that they
(a) do not want to be disturbed
(b) want to show how fashionable they are
(c) want to show their independence
(d) All of these

(ii) The electrician had

(a) done his job
(b) done almost nothing
(c) fixed the defective appliance
(d) understood what was to be done

(iii) The author says that we should not resent people

(a) indulging in their love for music
(b) wanting privacy
(c) Both (a) and
(b) (d) Neither (a) nor (b)
(iv) The passengers were stunned because
(a) the youth was careless
(b) the bag contained a bomb
(c) the youth had not been visible anywhere near the bag earlier
(d) None of the above

(v) The word in paragraph 1 which means ‘in spite’ is

(a) exude
(b) anyway
(c) irrespective
(d) regardless

(vi) The synonym of ‘absorbed’ used in paragraph 4 is

(a) recovered
(b) immersed
(c) stunned
(d) soaked

Passage 3

Like Celine Dion’s Academy Award-winning Titanic theme song, ‘My Heart Will
Go On’, the mystery around what led to the sinking of the superliner on 14th
April, 1912, it seems, will continue forever. So even one hundred years after
the incident happened, we have yet another theory bobbing to the surface.

To recount the old official tale, RMS Titanic was on its way from Southampton
to New York when it struck an iceberg just off the coast of Newfoundland. The
glancing blow hit the 100-metre long starboard section of the hull, creating a
huge fissure in its hull. Seawater rushed inside its six supposedly watertight
compartments. Soon all the cabins were flooded and within the next three
hours, the ship went down. More than 1,500 people lost their lives in the
disaster. According to some hypotheses, Titanic was doomed from the start by
the design so many lauded as state of the art.

But not many bought this theory and a legion of stories about the legend
began to come out. The latest has been floated by science writer Richard
Corfield who says that the rivets that held the ship’s hull together were not
according to their specifications in composition or quality and gave way when
the ship hit the iceberg. A quick web search, however, reveals that the
fascinating thing called the human mind is capable of much more; while one
pinned the accident down to a fire inside the ship’s coal bunkers, another one
talked about the curse of the Pharaohs because a traveller had with him a
sarcophagus containing the mummy of an ancient Egyptian priestess. Other
than these glamorous theories, there are the ordinary ones: the helmsman
making a steering blunder and the ship moving too fast to win the Blue
Riband, a prestigious prize awarded to a ship for making the fastest North
Atlantic crossing.

So what makes the Titanic story tick? From the very beginning, its story was
tailor-made to be fascinating copy. Investigating it made good business too:
from books to research grants to underwater expeditions, not to mention a
mega budget movie. In other words, the Titanic story has been done to death.
May be the hundredth year is a good time to leave the ship in its watery grave
once and for all.

Questions
(a) On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following
Questions briefly.
(i) How can Celine Dion’s Academy Award-winning theme song be compared
with the mystery around what led to the sinking of the Titanic?
(ii) How did the Titanic sink, according to the official story?
(iii) What blunder did the helmsman make and why?
(iv) Who were the people who profited from the Titanic disaster?
(v) Which word in paragraph 1 is the antonym of ‘sinking’?
(vi) Which word in paragraph 2 is the synonym of ‘attractive’?

(b) On the basis of your reading of the passage, complete the statements
given below by choosing the most appropriate option. .
(i) The Titanic had started from
(a) Southampton
(b) New York
(c) Newfoundland
(d) Egypt

(ii) According to Richard Corfield, the cause of sinking of the Titanic was
(a) the cursed mummy being carried in the ship
(b) the helmsman moving the ship too fast
(c) the poor quality of the rivets
(d) a fire inside the ship’s coal bunkers

(iii) The prize for the fastest ship to cross the North Atlantic was the
(a) Sarcophagus Prize
(b) Blue Riband
(c) North Atlantic Prize
(d) None of these

(iv) Investigation of the Titanic story led to good business in

(a) ship construction
(b) underwater fishing
(c) tailor-made stories
(d) publishing books

(v) The word in paragraph 2 means ‘large number’.

(a) legion
(b) together
(c) numerous
(d) fastest

(vi) The word in paragraph 3 means ‘remain in the limelight’.

(a) fascinating
(b) tick
(c) prominent
(d) business